A Dirty World PDF

This book is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Manning.
He was a good gamer, a better artist, and my close friend.
I miss him.
A DIRTY WORLD copyright 2008 Greg Stolze

Photo Credits: Mark Krajnak pages 9, 12, 44, 60 and rear
cover; Phil Hilfiker page 6; Kevin Jeong (photographer) and
Monical Dahl (model) pages 17, 40; Josh Lunde page 18,Greg
Stolze pages 21 and 39, Megan Drohan page 22, rear cover,
Forest Purnell page 33, Caterina Mendolicchio page 68; Adam
Scheutze page 55. All photos are copyright their respective
photographers.
Photos from iStockPhoto: front cover, 4, 28, and 56.
Interior Layout and Cover Design: Daniel Solis
CONTENTS
Ore Noir 6
How the Cha rac ter She et Wor ks 8
What to Rol l and How 13
The Thr ee Iden tity Pair s 18
The Six Qua lity Pair s 23
Swi ft Jus tice 32
Con flic t 41
Cha rac ter Gen eration 57
APP ENDIX : One Rol l Lega l Pro blem s 61
Dirt y Wor ld Che at She et 67

Two months ago she walked into my office in Boston,
put that little chin in the air and asked me to find her
father. Today we’re in Philadelphia, in a graveyard.
Two years ago, I wanted to disappear and She had a missing person, two months ago.
never be found. Ian Muldoon, the dad she never knew.
It was after the war, two years ago, I’d made Her mom told her every rotten thing you
some enemies and not many friends. I was an could think of — Muldoon was no good, a
MP. Traded in one set of initials for another, cheat, a bum, ran out when she got pregnant.
became a PI. I don’t carry a gun, don’t look for Her nicest word for him was ‘boxer.’ My client
trouble. Cheating spouses and missing persons hinted to me, that her mom had hinted to her
put food on my table. about being raped.
Only it wasn’t true. After
her mom died, she found the
letters. Ian Muldoon, writing
to the mom, apologizing
over and over, referring to
the money he sent, asking
about the baby, was it okay,
what was its name, boy or
girl, could she at least tell
him it was healthy?
“I’ll keep my promise,”
Muldoon wrote. “I’ll stay
away until you let me
back. But please, please
let me back.”
Her mom must have
been some tough piece
of work. So I had ‘Ian
Muldoon,’ the name.
I had a photograph –
bulky kid, cocky smile,
gloves up like Sullivan,
but the eyes confused and hurt. I had ‘boxer,’ “He didn’t give up on you,” I say. I went
started in Boston. Letters postmarked D.C., through those letters, each one like a punch
jokes about maybe boxing for the president, to the ribs. In New York they were dumber
then New York, then nothing. than in D.C. By the time he wrote about
She came in two months ago and said, “I trying his luck elsewhere, he couldn’t spell
want to know what happened,” and that chin, ‘Philadelphia.’
fragile and defiant, any decent man would half “He had a manager, but I couldn’t find
fall in love seeing that. Just for a moment. the guy,” I say. “Everyone else just called him
Two years ago, I was getting letters too. My ‘mumbles’.” I show her the picture. A vacant
mother, father, sister… I didn’t write back. I lot of a face, all the pieces in the right places
was some tough piece of work. but so pounded and leathered by gloves and
I went to D.C., talked to boxers, heard canvas that it wasn’t quite human. Like a bad
about Muldoon – a withstander, slow, solid painting of an ugly man. Only the eyes are the
counterpunch to the gut but really all he could same, wounded and baffled.
do was last. No flash, no flair, just a chump The tombstone says, I’M IN
who could promise at least three rounds, no PHILADELPHIA, AND IT’S RAINING.
matter how much punishment the other guy “That’s all he could remember, at the end,”
dished up. I say. I don’t tell her about the other letters, the
No one in New York had heard about Ian ones her mother wrote. Maybe that tombstone’s
Muldoon, but they knew ‘Mully,’ a thick guy enough. If she’s still lost, needs to push harder,
who could take a beating. Quiet type, kept I’ll bring them out. I hope I don’t have to.
to himself. In Germany I saw a man shot by a firing
Five years ago, the letters stopped coming squad for stealing a teapot. He lifted his chin
to my client’s mom. Five years ago I was in at the end. My client lifts hers, graceful as a
the Fatherland. I had to shoot a U.S. soldier sculpture, and looks at me.
who wouldn’t come peacefully. He lived, was She has her father’s eyes.
acquitted of raping some thirteen-year-old
fraulien, but got twenty years for assaulting
an officer.
Two years ago, my client’s mama got sick,
died. Two months ago, my client found the
letters while cleaning out the attic. Today,
we’ve finally found the grave site the old cut
man showed me.
ORE Noir
Film noir. Everyone seems to
recognize it when they see it,
but not everyone can articulate
what it is. That’s no big surprise,
since the phrase means different
things to different people.
I find that apt, almost consoling,
because a big part of noir is
ambiguity.
There’s more to noir than fedoras, cigarettes, detectives
with whiskey in the file cabinet and patterned light thrown
through venetian blinds. All those are the signs and signifiers,
but not the thing itself.
What the rain-slicked streets and purposeful shadows
indicate is fundamental uncertainty. Who’s on your side? Who’s
going to betray you? Who killed the girl, and how? Where’s the
statue and why is it so important? Noir is all about mysteries
and uncertainty and when you get to the passionate core
that motivated all the ugliness and pain, it’s never something
simple. At its core, noir means corruption and temptation and
redemption and anguished decisions.
The world of noir is dark, uncertain and ill.
It’s a dirty world.
The idea of this game is not to present a setting with the
noir trappings, but rather to present rules that facilitate stories
about betrayed trust, corroded virtue, easy evil and rare,
difficult justice. In it, players enact the roles of people with
something to hide and something to lose. They come into
conflict with mysteries, outside forces, and often each other.
Perhaps they reach a resolution you could call ‘right,’ if you
squint from its good side. Perhaps the mystery never unravels
and they have to walk off into the shadows unsatisfied. Perhaps
when they reach the core it’s writhing with the most human
kind of rot, and all they can do is turn away in despair.
6 • ORE NOIR
“A Wh at Pl ay ing Ga me ?”
My educated guess is tha
t most people who read
and know exactly what this are gamers
they have. But if you’re
gaming and want to kn un fam iliar with
ow what it’s about, I’ll
article written with abso ref er you to an online
lute beginners in mind.
http://www.gregstolze Yo u can find it at
.com/HowtoPlay.zip alo
other game-oriented ma ng with a lot of
terial.
ORE NOIR • 7
How the Character Sheet Works
“This is a different kind of game. There’s no board,
other than your imagination…” Most explanations
of roleplaying games haul out that old motto. I’ve
written it myself several times. But thinking things
over, there is a board for this game, and it’s your
character sheet.
Your character sheet (there’s a blank one There are also spaces for Specialties.
on page 70) records how well your character Where the Qualities are vague, and the
does certain things and what his current Identities are even more vague, Specialties
abilities are. In most games, there are a few are painstakingly specific. Don’t worry
traits that fluctuate during the course of a about them for now: The Identities and
game session – how close your character is to Qualities are what you’re going to use
death, how many bullets remain in his gun, almost all the time.
how close to exhaustion he is and so forth. But Identities and Qualities both come in
most traits only improve very slowly. A Dirty pairs, lying along a continuum. One obvious
World is different. In this game, your abilities example is Purity and Corruption. If you
can change from scene to scene, tracking the look on the character sheet you see them as
alterations in your character’s mood, condition lines of circles, one above the other.
and circumstances. Instead of a vague gauge of
his skill at fist fighting or telling lies, your traits purity .
reflect how good he is at it right now.
There are two kinds of traits on your
character sheet: Identities and Qualities. An corruption
Identity is an essential element of who your

character is. Every action you take involves Very few people are completely pure or
an Identity. Qualities are narrower and more totally corrupt. Someone who’s average has
volatile. While an Identity may change two or a rating of two in both Qualities. On the
three times every couple of sessions, Qualities character sheet, that’s represented by filling
are probably going to change in just about in circles.
every scene. All Qualities and all Identities are
rated from 1-5. purity .
corruption
8 • HOW THE CHARACTER SHEET WORKS

ia l
C o m b at P o t e n t ur
Potential” on yo
a lit tle bo x la beled “Combat su m total of Vigor, G
race,
You’ve got ent. It’s eq ua l to th e
t. Keep this curr d news you
character shee ea su re of how much ba
age, and it’s a
gene ra l m er Combat
Wrath and Cour to at ta ck so m eone with a high
you try a lower
n brawl. When ck someone with
bring to any give n yo u tr y to at ta
ll Courage. Whe
Potential, you ro ra th .
ial, you roll W
Combat Potent knife or a club
pe rs on is better armed. A
this rule is whe
n on e a gun and
The exception to nd w ea po n. Thus, if you have
umps a ha she rolls Courag
e.
ts, and a gun tr You roll Wrath,
trumps bare fis do es n’ t m at ter:
mbat Potential
she doesn’t, Co
HOW THE CHARACTER SHEET WORKS • 9

Someone who is exceptionally pure is very Thirdly, and most commonly, they can
good at tasks where being a generally decent slide. When you slide a quality, it means the
human being is an advantage. He might have allocation of dots on the line changes, but the
a chart like this. number of dots stays constant. For example,
suppose your character gets struck in a brawl.
purity . It’s not a serious blow, but it stings. Under
the rules, this means your slide a dot from
Courage to Wrath. So if you had Courage 3
corruption Wrath 2 before…
Qualities on the same line limit each other. COURAGE .

Someone with Purity 5 can’t have Corruption
higher than 2. That’s what the overlapping
WRATH
circles are for. If you have Purity 3 Corruption
4, you can see that the line is filled up and you
can’t gain more of either without losing its …when you get slapped, you have to slide
contrary. to the right, ending up with Courage 2 Wrath
3, like this.
purity .
COURAGE .
corruption
WRATH
Always fill in circles and mark lines in

pencil. Qualities and even Identities can move There are times when it’s helpful to have
around a lot. In the course of a game, there are more Courage and times when Wrath is the
three ways these traits can change. right tool for the job. To understand this, you
First off, they can simply decrease. If have to read the Quality descriptions.
someone hits you hard, you might lose a dot of Qualities and Identities never go above 5,
Courage. You erase it off your sheet and hope and each half of a pair limits the potential of
he doesn’t hit you again. The mechanics of the other half. Simple really: You can’t be really
losing your Identities and Qualities is covered generous and really selfish at the same time,
under “Conflict,” starting on page 41. though it’s typical to have elements of both in
Secondly, they can increase. If you make your personality. If a slide would push a trait
a significant discovery, your reward is gaining over five, it acts as if that dot was simply lost,
a point of Demonstration. You can find more instead. For example, a character with…
about improving Qualities and Identities
under “Swift Justice” on page 33.
10 • HOW THE CHARACTER SHEET WORKS

Spec ialti es
about anybody
Qualities and Identities are used for just about everything that just
enough to
can do. Specialties are for things that most people don’t even know
a B-52, transla te hieroglyphics
attempt. Nobody’s going to defuse an A-bomb, pilot
or perform an appendectomy without training.
buy it as a
If you want your character to have some narrow expertise like that,
that’s normally
Specialty. It’s basically a permission to attempt rolls for something
g, but if you
outside the pale. It doesn’t add any dice or reduce penalties or anythin
buy ‘Pilot’ as a Specialty, you can fly planes.
French are pretty
There are gray zones with this. For example, German, Spanish and
character need a
common languages to learn, especially right after WWII. Does a
how the game’s
Specialty to speak Spanish? Up to the GM, really, depending on
character has
going and what’s already established about the character. If the
can’t pick it up later, unless the
definitively shown he does not know a language, he
GM decides to let him get the Specialty somehow.
change the oil in a
Similarly, many people can pick out a passable tune on the piano,
als. Specialties
car, or knock together an end table if they have the tools and materi
at Carnegie,
aren’t required for that everyday level of skill. To play a concert
ter – for those, a
rebuild an engine from the ground up or make a living as a carpen
character might need to specialize.
DEMONSTRATION . is already at maximum (meaning he’s pretty

pedantic and self-absorbed already) the
Observation dot just vanishes.
OBSERVATION
…is subjected to intellectual trickery DEMONSTRATION .

that makes him overconfident, at the cost
of open-mindedness. In game terms, the
OBSERVATION
trick makes him slide an Observation dot to
Demonstration. But since Demonstration
HOW THE CHARACTER SHEET WORKS • 11

What to Roll and How
A Dirty World is based on the One Roll Engine, in
which you roll a collection of ten-sided dice and
look for matching numbers. The number of dice you
roll is called a pool and it’s usually composed of one
Identity and one Quality. Extra dice can be added for
situational advantages such as secrets, weapons and
surprises.
When you roll, you look for sets, which are just dice whose numbers match. Each set has
Width, which is how many dice turned up that number. Each set also has Height, which shows
the number which turned up. Sets are noted down as Width X Height, as shown below.
Example: I roll five dice and get 1,3,6,7,10. I have no sets. I roll again and get 3,3,3,6,6.
That gives me two sets. One is a set of three threes, or 3x3, and the other is a pair of
sixes, 2x6.
Width shows how quickly and intensely something happens. Height indicates how much
circumstance favors the action, or how difficult it is to stop.
Simple Actions
Simple actions are those where there isn’t active, adapting resistance to the action, but there’s still
an obstacle to overcome. Examples would include climbing a wall, building a zip gun, digging a
grave without getting exhausted, or searching a room for a hidden letter. For these, you simply
roll an appropriate pool. If any set at all comes up, the attempt succeeded.
Contested Actions
Contested actions are those where someone is trying to stop you. For instance, someone’s trying
to cheat you out of your house through bogus legal maneuvering, and you take them to court to
stop them. Or someone tries to swing a shovel into your face and you duck. Or someone wants
to convince you of his honesty and goodwill and you want to know if he’s on the level.
When a conflict of this sort arises, both parties roll the relevant pools. The person who’s
trying to act (the con man, the shovel man, the persuader) picks a set to use. The person on the
receiving end picks a set as well, and those dice become Gobble Dice.
WHAT TO ROLL AND HOW • 13

Gobble Dice
Gobble Dice cancel out the dice in other people’s sets. If their set gets reduced to 1x, it’s worthless
– the action is completely foiled. Once a set is converted to Gobble Dice, the dice can be used
separately, and the last one is just as useful as the first. This means that if the guy trying to hit you
with a shovel has a buddy behind you with a pickaxe, you might be able to spend one Gobble Die
to duck the shovel and one to dodge the pick. There are a few important restrictions on Gobble
Dice, however.
The Gobbler has to be High enough. Gobble Dice can only mess with sets that are at their
Height or lower. If you get a 4x4 and make it into Gobble Dice, it’s not going to help you if the
other fellow got a 2x8. There are enough Gobble Dice, but they’re weak fours compared to his
strong eights.
Sometimes, timing matters. In things like seeing through falsehood or arguing in front of
a court, it doesn’t really matter who ‘goes first’ and your 2x10 roll can give you enough Gobblers
to wreck a 3x5 set. But in things like diving behind a wall before getting peppered by gunshots,
quickness matters very much. In that case, the 2x10 is just too slow to protect from that 3x5.
Gobble Dice are powerful, but they’re always reactive. They can never accomplish anything,
only prevent accomplishment. But when someone’s trying to ‘accomplish’ your demise, you
want them.
Difficulty
Some things are hard. Most simple actions have a default Difficulty of 1. Any roll whose Height
beats or matches the Difficulty succeeds. Most of the time, then, any roll qualifies. But a more
onerous task might have Difficulty 3. That means that x2 and x1 sets aren’t good enough to get
it done. If a task had Difficulty 10, only sets with a Height of ten could manage it. But by and
large, Difficulties should be the exception, not the rule. If you’re a GM, only put a Difficulty on
when things are really tough, and even then never more than 5, maximum. Anything that would
warrant Difficulty 6+ is probably hard enough that the player shouldn’t bother to roll. See also
“To Roll or Not Roll?” below.
Getting Fancy
There are a couple things you can do to try and get more mileage out of your pool. Here are the
rules for them.
Called Shots
A called shot is when you want to get a set of one particular Height and you don’t want to leave it
to chance. You might want to get a x10 set to make sure it’s hard to defend against. Or you might
want to get an x1 set so that you can say (technically) that you did it, while secretly hoping that
the action fails.
14 • WHAT TO ROLL AND HOW

If you want to specify a number, take your
pool and drop one die out of it. Then take
one of the dice that remains and set it on the When I draw the
gun on him, he sq
number you want. Roll the rest. If a rolled die and puts up his ha ueals
nds. I step back a
marries your set number, you’ve got the set both for range an bit –
d because this guy
you want. If you get a different set, you can use ‘self-pisser’ written has
all over him.
that instead, or not. “(…)?” he asks, in
some language that
sounds like wind ch
imes.
Example: Having engineered a “No Chinese,” I tell
him. My boss speaks
terribly dangerous fire for his boss and Chinese, Japanese,
Korean too. They
daughter, Carl wants it to look really sound alike to me, all
just like these loser
dramatic when he rescues them. So as look alike. Or used s all
to. I think I’m getti
he smashes down the door, he wants so I can see differen ng
ces, but it doesn’t rea
to get as meager a success as possible. matter. I’m just as ha lly
ppy to not know wh
His Vigorous Defiance pool is a meaty they’re saying, frank at
ly. That goes for m
9d, so he drops one out, sets one of the boss and his musta y
che buddies, too.
remaining dice to 1, and then rolls the “(….)” I don’t need
the language to
7d which remain. Getting 1,3,3,4,7,8,10, know he’s pleading.
He’s on his knees wi
he can make a 2x1 set or, if he changes his hands folded, lik th
e praying.
his mind, use the 2x3 set. “Shut up,” I tell him
. “Die with some
dignity.” He begs so
me more.
Multiple Actions “You don’t like it,
you shouldn’t have
Sometimes you have a lot to do in a little time. crossed Mister Hoo.
” I have to think the
(This is particularly true in physical fights.) If likes having a roun boss
d-eyes torpedo. Even
you want to try doing two things at once, you strung-out one wh a
o can’t pick the po
need two sets, and you need to pull them out but as long as I take nies,
out the trash like th
with a penalty because your attention is split. Hoo can always fro is,
nt me some junk an
Knock a die out of your pool, roll, and wipe out my losses. d
Forgive my debts.
look for multiple sets. If you get them, you “(…)!” Angry now.
Time to end this.
can assign one to each actions. I hear the snap an
d feel the twitch as
he crumples, but
there’s no acrid ur
Example: While assassinating a stink. Sometimes pe ine-
ople show courage
deputy District Attorney, Marco decides the strangest ways. in
Or maybe he just we
to shoot twice. Factoring in surprise, his before he left home. nt
weapon and his Graceful Wrath, Marco
is rolling a 10d pool. To fire twice in the
time it would usually take for one good
shot, he drops a die, rolls 9d, and looks
for two sets.

If you want to do three actions, or more, simply keep yanking dice for each extra action and
looking for more matches. If you want to try five actions at once, you take four dice out of your
pool and look for five sets. (It ain’t happening. Do the math.)
What if you want to do two different things at the same time? You use the smaller of the
relevant pools, then penalize it normally.
Example: Hans is giving a speech at the union meeting and trying to inspire the
workers to strike on principle. But at the same time, he’s trying to score points with the shop
steward’s wife by subtly implying to her that he’s more man than her husband. Inspiration
from principle is Persuasive Purity, and Hans has 8d in that. But seduction is Persuasive
Corruption, and he’s only got 5d in that. So to do both at once, he takes his smaller pool,
knocks a die out of it and rolls, looking for two sets. Getting a 2,2,6,6, he succeeds. If he’d
rolled 3,3,7,9, he’d have to decide which he wanted more – uniting the proletariat, or uniting
with Mrs. Steward when her husband’s working late.
Taking Your Time

Picking a lock under pressure is Cunning Selfishness. Cracking a safe at your leisure is Patient
Selfishness. But if your pool is low, you may want to increase your odds by taking your time
to focus.
If you take twice as long to do something, you can add a die to your pool (or cancel out a
penalty). If you take a round to get your footing before you throw a punch, you get that bonus
die to your roll.
To Roll or Not Roll?

You don’t need to roll for everything. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you do.
If an action is impossible, there’s no point in rolling for it. No matter how big your Vigorous
Defiance pool is, no one’s tunneling through three feet of concrete overnight with just a spoon.
It’s impossible. No roll. Accept the automatic failure and move on.
Similarly, if an action is absurdly simple, no roll’s required. Characters have basic competence
and don’t need to roll to make coffee, tie their shoes or pay the phone bill on time. It’s an
automatic success.
Rolls are only required when it’s dramatic and engaging for the outcome to be in doubt.
When characters are in conflict over deeply held beliefs, the dice should come out. When
someone pulls a knife, or when the freedom of an innocent man hangs on a character’s testimony,
roll then.
16 • WHAT TO ROLL AND HOW

If a character
wants to seduce
some unimportant
minor character, and
it has no relevance to
the events at center
stage? Let the player
roll if he wants to let
the dice decide whether
he’s going to play smug
or frustrated. Otherwise,
why not just let the player
write it in? Particularly
if the outcome reinforces
the player’s view of the
character as suave lover
man (or awkward loser).
A particularly important
application of this idea comes
up in the matter of clues. It’s
not uncommon for games
to fall into a trap where, in
order to progress, the player
has to succeed at a Cunning
Observation roll to find the
dropped matchbook with the
phone number on it. Don’t you
do it. What (exactly) is cool
about the characters not finding the clue, and then
bumbling around in frustration? Clues shouldn’t
depend on rolls, though sometimes a GM may want
to let a successful roll pull more out of a clue than is
apparent on the surface.

The Three Identity Pairs
Now that you understand how and when
you’re rolling, it’s time to get to the
details of what. Your dice pool is usually
an Identity and a Quality. Since Identities
are more central, they come first
There are three pairs of Identities, each
of which helps out with certain tasks.
The pairs are contrary: Exceptional
growth in one limits the other to merely
ordinary levels. However, no Identity
can ever exceed 5. As mentioned earlier,
if a slide would push an Identity over
five, the dot being pushed simply gets
dropped instead.
Patience and Cunning: The Mental Identities

This is the continuum that represents how intelligent your character
is, her flexibility in the face of changing information, how quickly
and analytically she can manage the things she learns.
Patience indicates an ability to just grind away at a problem,
retaining intense focus, until the issue is bludgeoned into
submission. Patient people put in hours at the library, go door
to door for days showing the picture and saying, “Have you seen
this girl?” or meticulously plot out every variable of their bank heist down to the second. Patient
people are capable of prodigious effort, but they tend to plod, overthink, and consider all sides
of a question (often quite tiresomely).
Cunning is the ability to react quickly, adapt to a changing mental landscape, and rapidly
jump to a conclusion that is reasonable, if not infallibly right. Very crafty people are often
impatient, and this very impatience can drive them to seek better or more efficient ways to do
things. Cunning characters notice that the message can only be decoded if you read it in a mirror,
they can explain complicated concepts with a simple metaphor, and their impassioned crimes
are often protected by ingenious impromptu cover-ups. Cunning intuition can jump straight to
the solution of the puzzle, but impatience can often lead to dangerous false assumptions.
18 • THE THREE IDENTITY PAIRS

If a character’s Cunning is reduced to zero, there are no mechanical penalties beyond small
pools when it comes to being alert and in tune.
If a character’s Patience drops to zero, she goes berserk. Berserk characters are unable to use
any of the Mental Qualities, and can’t use their Understanding Identity either. Mostly what they
can do is yell and hit, or sit in the corner with their arms crossed fuming. Going berserk lasts
for one scene, after which the character may slide over a point of Cunning. If she’s also out of
Cunning, she has to spend the next scene berserk as well, and after that she can take two points
off any combination of Mental Qualities and gain a point of Patience.
THE THREE IDENTITY PAIRS • 19

Vigor and Grace: The Active Identities
The active continuum represents the power and control a character can bring to bear on a
physical confrontation or task. Everything from tightrope walking to putting that bouncer in a
sleeper hold involves one quality or the other.
Optimizing both Vigor and Grace is impossible. Characters with great Vigor, while strong and
tough, tend to be muscle bound and unable to bring their power under full control. Characters
of profound Grace, on the other hand, are so used to doing things perfectly and with little effort
that they rarely develop the hulking musculature of the vigorous.
Vigor is strength and hale good health. You use it to take a punch and to throw one back, to
swim underwater while bullets zing around you, or to run out of the burning building with a
drugged kidnap victim over your shoulder.
Grace measures your ability to do things with the minimum possible effort and the maximum
control. Driving a car with the wheel shot out, catching the priceless vase as it drops towards
the floor, or diving out the window away from a knife-toting maniac are all actions that call
for Grace.
If a character runs out of Grace, he’s clumsy, but no additional rules punishment is levied. If
a character runs out of Vigor, he’s dying.
Note that the character is not dead – he’s dying. Dying characters can’t take any physical
actions, except to make desperate, dramatic statements. Any character present who wants to
finish off a dying character can do it in one action, without even needing to roll a pair. On the flip
side of that, characters who want to help a dying character can make sure he doesn’t fade away.
Assuming that someone summons or provides aid to a dying character, the guy with zeroed-
out Vigor has to sit out a scene and can then transfer over some saving Grace. If there’s no Grace
to be had, he can sit out another scene and knock two points off any Physical Qualities, turning
them into a point of Vigor and permitting him to stumble out of the Emergency Room against
the doctor’s advice.
Understanding and Persuasion: The Spiritual Identities

The spiritual continuum is between understanding other people, and making them understand
you. This is less a matter of intellect (though that can often play a part) and more a matter of
intangible empathy. A very persuasive person just seems trustworthy, even in the absence of
evidence. A very understanding person can see right through you, even if he lacks the brains to
grasp every nuance of what you’re saying.
Understanding measures the ability to see through another’s eyes and imagine yourself in
her situation. People with a great deal of Understanding know when they’re being lied to and
more, often can tell when someone is lying to himself. They make good gossips, interrogators,
bartenders and shrinks. On the other hand, no one can betray you as well as someone with that
20 • THE THREE IDENTITY PAIRS

deep understanding, and the openness that makes them sympathetic can make them easy to
suborn… or seduce.
Persuasion is force of personality. A very persuasive character can make you see things his
way, even if you don’t want to. While rationally you know his case is full of holes, its passionate
delivery makes you doubt your analysis, not his. Salesmen, politicians, gold-diggers, priests and
con artists all rely on hefty doses of Persuasion. Of course, the cost of broadcasting so powerfully
is a certain loss in the ability to receive. But when you’re hurting people, understanding them
may not be in your best interest.
If a character’s Persuasion hits zero, she ceases to be compelling. There’s no mechanical
problems other than having no Persuasion Identity to combine with Qualities for certain tasks.
If a character’s Understanding hits zero, he succumbs to despair. Despairing characters
just can’t figure people out and quit trying. They can’t use Vigor or Patience for rolls until they
regain some Understanding. Despair lasts for at least a scene, after which the character can shift
over a dot of Persuasion. (Essentially, she’s persuading herself that people are still worth the
effort.) If she has neither Understanding nor Persuasion, the despair lasts another scene, after
which she can take two points off any combined Spiritual Qualities and turn them into a point
of Understanding.
THE THREE IDENTITY PAIRS • 21

The Six Quality Pairs
Qualities are the more volatile half of your pool.
They gauge abilities that can change a great deal if
you’re sleepy or drugged or emotionally charged up.
Just like Identities, they can’t go above 5. If a slide
would raise a Quality above 5, that Quality stays at
5 and its contrary Quality drops by one.
Generosity and Selfishness, Mental Qualities

Generosity represents your ability to perceive what a person or a situation needs, and your
wherewithal to provide it. Patient Generosity is the pool you use for long term projects like
rooting corruption out of the police department, helping your drunk friend get clean and stay
sober, or helping a buddy manage his grief at the death of his wife. Cunning Generosity is more
often used to find a quick fix, like trapping your boozy buddy on a slow boat to China where he
won’t be able to lay hands on hooch for two months. It can also be used to give gifts with strings
attached: When a wealthy crook gives a bag of cash to a mayoral candidate under the table at an
Italian restaurant, that’s not a purely selfless act. It’s an act of Cunning Generosity. Whenever you
want to buy something or bribe somebody, it uses Generosity.
Selfishness, on the other hand, is a general ability to take things from other people to their cost
and your benefit. Cunning Selfishness lets you pick a pocket, break into an apartment or hotwire
a car. It’s not for violent, confrontational crimes but sneaky stuff. Patient Selfishness operates on a
grander scale. It’s used for embezzling, running long cons or performing acts of forgery.
Demonstration and Observation, Mental Qualities

Observation is the skill of noticing and learning things, while Demonstration lets you understand,
explain and use knowledge. Demonstration is most useful for things that are matters of fact or
abstract logic: It has no innate emotional appeal. Patient Demonstration lets you teach someone
to read, explain to someone how to rebuild a car transmission, or rebuild that transmission
yourself. It serves as a catch-all for knowledge. If you might know how to do something that’s
mainly a matter of know-how, a roll of Patient Demonstration can determine whether you
succeed at it or not. Diffiulties are a good way to model tasks that are more, um, difficult.
Cunning Demonstration is used for explaining or figuring things out on the spur
of the moment. Where a Patient Demonstration can give someone an outline of how
to make a home-made pipe bomb with an alarm clock timer, Cunning Demonstration
THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS • 23

can say over the phone, “Is there a cylinder, ‘bout the size of a soup can with a wire coming
from it? Cut that wire only!” Counting cards at the high-stakes blackjack game is a job for
Cunning Demonstration.
Observation, on the other hand, is about being open and absorbing information. A Cunning
Observer spots the dropped wallet from the gangster’s nightclub, hears the click of the revolver
hammer going back from the shadows in the parking garage, or notices that the tie slung over
his bedside chair this morning isn’t the same one he dropped there last night. A Patient Observer
tracks trends, does tedious detective footwork, audits the files or spends hours in the library
finding old articles about the governor’s first wife.
Courage and Wrath, Active Qualities

Courage measures your ability to cope with danger, while Wrath measures the ability to be
cruel when you have the upper hand. The courageous draw on inner reserves of strength to face
difficult odds, while the wrathful give in to sadistic urges in pursuit of their goals.
Most practically, you use Vigorous Courage to slug it out with an evenly matched or superior
opponent, while Vigorous Wrath is what a pimp uses to slap around a hooker (or what a police
detective uses to beat a confession out of a restrained suspect). Graceful Courage handles
gunfights when you’re cornered, in the open or badly outnumbered. Graceful Wrath is used by
snipers, assassins and cowards. Any time you shoot an unarmed person, it’s Wrath – even if your
target could break both your arms in a second if he got close enough.
The quick way to see whether you need Courage or Wrath (all other things being equal) is
to simply compare Combat Potential scores. That’s what they’re there for. (Combat Potential is
simply Courage+Wrath+Vigor+Grace.)
Endurance and Defiance, Active Qualities

Endurance is what you use to put up with things. Defiance is what you use when you don’t want
to put up with things.
Endurance is most often used to keep circumstances from changing. Vigorous Endurance
is rolled to hold your breath, carry your wounded enemy across ten miles of desert, or to play
football as a lineman. Graceful Endurance is more useful for a wide receiver, or for someone who
has to do a precise action over and over for a long span of time.
Defiance, on the other hand, gets you out of or away from things. Vigorous Defiance is what
you roll to snap handcuffs, kick in doors, or block the ball bat before it clobbers your secretary.
Graceful Defiance is used to squirm out of ropes, squeeze through a tiny heating duct, or dodge
out of the way when the mug opens up with his Tommy gun.
24 • THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS

Purity and Corruption, Spiritual Qualities
These measure a character’s current attitude towards the world around her and her ideas about
how to react to people. The pure tend to judge people kindly, give them breaks or the benefit of
the doubt, while the corrupt assume that those they meet are self-interested and venal, or just
naïve fools.
Persuasive Purity lets the goodness in you call out to the goodness in others. Use it when you
say something like, “Hank, put the gun down. I know you love Jessica – that’s why the thought
of her betraying you is so painful. You don’t really want to hurt her. Put it down before you do
something you can never make right.” Understanding Purity, on the other hand, lets you get
an impression of another person’s integrity. The more you observe, the better your results are
(of course) but even a moment of interaction can tweak your intuition. It lets you see things
through their eyes and understand those motivations they consider their best. A vigilante may
be driven by a real need for justice, as well as an urge to hurt people. A meek priest who does
nothing while his neighborhood gets worse and worse may just be paralyzed by cowardice… but
may also be tormented by an unwillingness to be judgmental, or to admit that some people can
never be saved.
Corruption? That’s for dirty stuff. Want that square-jawed cop to forget his marriage vows?
Show a little leg and roll Persuasive Corruption. Any time you want to bring out the worst in
someone, Persuasive Corruption is your go-to pool. As for Understanding Corruption, that’s
what you roll to spot the eager way that prosecuting attorney hits his second lunchtime martini,
or the envious gleam in the neighbor’s eye when he sees your friend roll by in this year’s flashy
car. It helps you understand people’s weaknesses, vices and temptations. Have fun with that.
Honesty and Deceit, Spiritual Qualities

One can only really tell the truth when one believes in truth, and you cannot practice deception
without losing at least some measure of faith in integrity. This is the central tension between
Honesty and Deceit.
Persuasive Deceit is used to tell lies face to face and make them seem reliable and true. The art
of setting up fake evidence to generate false conclusions – that’s more a call for Demonstration.
But when you look someone in the eye and say, “I never touched her” or “You know my check is
good” or “Just one glass of wine with dinner, officer” – that’s a job for Persuasive Deceit. As for
Understanding Deceit, that’s what wives, landlords and highway patrolmen use to call out the
liars who hand out the same tired lines day after day.
Persuasive Honesty is what you use to convince people you’re telling the truth when you
actually are. This might seem less useful than fabrication, but when you have to explain something
particularly illogical and get them to listen on faith alone (“No, she was dead when I got here!
There’s only blood on my hands because I checked her pulse!”) it’s a lifesaver. Understanding

Honesty, on the other hand, manages your instinct for flawed truth. When someone tells you the
truth but it’s not the whole truth? Or when someone tells you a half-truth, or tells you what they
would like to believe, something they’re really trying to believe? (“I can quit drinking any time
I want! I don’t have a problem!”) Then the gentle inquisition of Understanding Honesty reveals
the flaws and pain and denial.
Twenty Things To Do and How To Do Them.

The Qualities and Identities can be a little vague until you get the hang of them. Each Quality
and Identity has some examples of use under them, but here are a few more examples,
with rationales.
Drive a Car: No Roll Required

You don’t need to make a roll every time your character gets behind the wheel, just like you
don’t need to roll to fix eggs in the morning or button your suspenders. Unless an outcome is in
doubt, there’s no reason for your GM to require a roll. If an action isn’t impossible and it doesn’t
impact the plot, there’s no need to drag the game down with needless rolls that tell nothing and
do nothing.
Drive at Dangerous Speed in a Rainstorm:

Graceful Endurance
When there’s some risk and drama associated with driving, you can use a static Graceful
Endurance roll to represent keeping your vehicle under control by keeping your mind and body
controlled. Again, there’s no call to roll if there’s no pressure, but if you’re racing to get to the lab
before the bomb goes off, and the plot works just as well whether you succeed or fail… now your
GM might make you roll.
Lose a Tail: Graceful Defiance

(Tail a Suspect: Graceful Endurance)
In the classic car chase, the runner rolls Graceful Defiance and the chaser rolls Graceful
Endurance. It’s a contested roll, with the runner’s pairs becoming Gobble Dice against the chaser’s
pairs. Both sides roll and the runner tries to ruin all the chaser’s sets. If the runner gets a success
and the chaser doesn’t, or if the runner has a complete set left after ruining everything the chaser
rolled, then the runner gets away clean. If neither side rolls any successes, or the runner ruins
the chaser’s sets but has no extra set, the chase continues. If the chaser gets a set past the runner,
the runner has been forced to a stop.
Foot chases are the same, except it’s Vigorous Defiance vs. Vigorous Endurance.

Clear a Jammed Gun: Cunning Demonstration
Demonstration is used for knowing how to perform tasks. Cunning is used for doing things
under pressure. If you need to clear a jammed gun and there’s no particular pressure, there’s no
need to roll.
Talk Down a Jumper: Persuasive Purity

Convincing someone who’s suicidal that life is really worth living requires two things. First, the
character has to empathize and present a passionate argument. Secondly, it really helps to believe
life is worth living. If the character is trying to hoodwink the jumper by making false promises
or offering untrue opportunities, then Persuasive Deceit. It’s also possible that an appeal to logic
might come into play. (“You don’t have to die to keep the secret. Here’s another option…”) That
would call for Cunning Demonstration.
Determine Whether the Necklace is Fake: Patient Observation

To tell in a glance whether gems (or documents, or paintings) are real or fake requires
Observation. Sophisticated fakes stand up to casual scrutiny and require Patient Observation.
Crude forgeries can be seen through with a Cunning Observation set, and if examined long
enough can be uncovered without even a roll. (Basically, if you spend enough time to warrant a
Patient roll of some type, you can penetrate a crappy fake without the roll.) Trying to see through
a really expert forgery at a glance would be Cunning Observation, but one would need some
relevant Specialty. A customs agent who deals with passports every day is going to have a better
chance of seeing through a good one than an ordinary civilian.
Threaten Someone to Get Them to Talk:

Persuasive Corruption
This is usually a straightforward attack on a Quality – Courage (“tell me or you’ll be sucking the
bloody stumps of your teeth”) or Generosity (“tell me or I can have the tax men all over you”)
or Honesty (“tell me or I’ll slander you until you don’t even trust yourself ”) as examples. A hit
reduces the Quality and repeated assaults make giving up more attractive. Naturally, a credible
threat helps a lot – so waving a gun or knife can help, as can threatening a secret or revealing a
dismaying surprise.
Disguise Yourself as a Cleaning Woman: Patient Selfishness

To carry off a planned imposture under scrutiny requires skill and preparation. (Of course, a
good Persuasive Deceit makes a fine backup if someone starts to get suspicious.) A quick-change
improvised disguise would be Cunning Selfishness, but it’s not going to stand up to any kind of
attentive look.

Find and Purchase Illicit Drugs: Cunning Generosity
Generosity represents a character’s ability to pay for and arrange things. Cunning is needed for
sneaky, sleazy, hidden behaviors. Thus, to make an illegal purchase (be it guns, white slaves or
sweet lady H) Cunning Generosity is used.
Sneak Up Behind Somebody: Cunning Selfishness

(Notice an Ambush: Cunning Observation)
Selfishness is needed to take advantage of someone, and Cunning gives the presence of mind
to adapt to circumstances (the turned head, the squeaky stair, the shifting patch of shadow). It’s
handled as an opposed contest: The person being snuck past rolls Cunning Observation and
tries to cancel dice out of the stealthy fellow’s Cunning Selfishness Set. If neither one gets a set, a
coin flip determines whether the sneaker is noticed or not.

Note that successfully sneaking up behind someone can give you a surprise if you later
do something where the sudden reveal helps you. Like, for instance, lunging from behind the
curtain with a garrote.
Construct a Shiv in Prison: Patient Selfishness

Squirreling away the materials needed to make a stabbing implement requires forethought and
steady nerves. Just throwing together some sort of makeshift weapon (chair leg, jagged edge of a
broken plate, necktie ligature) could be Cunning Demonstration if you’re creating the weapon on
the spur of the moment, or it could be Cunning Observation if you’re trying to find something
in your environment.
Play a Heartbreakingly Sad Song on the Piano:

Persuasive Honesty
To really splinter someone’s heart, you gotta be honest. Persuasive
Corruption could also work if the goal is to provoke real sorrow in the
listener, or convince him life’s not worth it. On the other hand, Persuasive
Purity might play to a more uplifting sort of music.
Fake Your Own Death: Patient Selfishness

Playing dead after being stabbed is Persuasive Deceit, but an ongoing
deception takes more than a plausible swan song. Getting a weighted coffin
buried, scrounging up a death certificate and having your own demise look
convincing – all these require a lot of forethought. (Creating a false identity
after you’ve faked your death is also a job for Patient Selfishness.)
Booby Trap the Staircase:

Patient Demonstration
(Spot a Booby Trap: Cunning Observation)
Patience lets you plan ahead and Demonstration is the general skill of
constructing things. You can make a case for Patient Selfishness as well,
since trapping a staircase is a pretty low trick.
If the victim wants to inspect the locale, any Cunning Observation set is
sufficient to spot a tripwire. The trapper doesn’t really need to roll for the trap
until a victim sets it off. Then it’s a contest between Patient Demonstration
and Graceful Defiance, if the victim tries to escape. If the Defiance roll can
counter the Patient Demonstration set, all well and good. But keep in mind
that if the victim failed that Cunning Observation roll (or never bothered to
check) the Patient Demonstration gets bonuses for surprise, and possibly for
weapons as well if the trap is a deadly one.

Make Sure the Getaway Car is in Good Shape:
Patient Demonstration
Car work is pretty commonplace, so twenty minutes spent looking a car over not only tops off
the gas, oil and air in the tires, it checks the plugs and filters and to ensure a working vehicle. To
sabotage a car, use Cunning Demonstration (or possibly Selfishness).
Cheat on Your Taxes: Patient Selfishness

It’s scummy and requires long term attention, so it’s Patient Selfishness. Simple, right?
Start Up a Muckraking Newspaper: Patient Generosity

Starting up a new paper is a long-term endeavor requiring a lot of resources. It’s legal to start up a
paper (even if you’re a Commie or Socialist or something) so you’d only need Patient Selfishness
if you wanted to keep your rag secret and distribute it only to those who need to know.
Redecorate the Living Room For an Elegant Soirée:

Persuasive Generosity
It’s an odd pairing of a Spiritual Quality with a Mental Identity, but redecorating a room is
a pretty odd thing to do in a noir setting. Generosity gives you resources, and Persuasion
influences emotion.
Conceal Your Unease and Cynicism at an Unfamiliar Religious

Ceremony: Persuasive Deceit.
Deception isn’t just telling the lie. It’s also burying the truth.
This doesn’t mean the GM should call for Persuasive Deceit every time a character sees
something distasteful and doesn’t want to wince. If no one’s looking at you during that ceremony,
you don’t need to roll because it makes no difference. If someone gives you the stink eye to see
if you’re secretly snickering at the Mass, you need to roll. Or if your character is an established
anti-Semite, you might need to roll during that Bat Mitzvah. But by and large, the dice should
only come out when it makes a difference one way or the other.
Help Someone Else: Varies

There are many, many situations where it helps to have a voice chorusing, “Hey, she has a point
there,” or another set of eyes going through the documents, or another set of prints on that
bloodstained pickaxe. When you want to help someone, there are two ways to go about it:
Beforehand and after the fact.

If you want to help before, you roll before. If you get a set, you add its Width in dice to your
buddy’s roll when he rolls, for whatever it is you’re helping him do.
If you want to amplify his success, roll afterwards (or at the same time). If you get a set that’s
equal to his Height or greater, you can increase the Width of his set by the Width of your set.
Example: Jerry and Johnno are trying to fix the truck before its owner (Jerry’s brother
Big Stevie) gets home and sees it’s damaged. Johnno, the better mechanic, is going to make
the primary roll. Jerry wants to help him beforehand, and happens to get a 2x1 set on his
Patient Demonstration roll. When Johnno makes his Patient Demonstration roll, he gets to
add two dice to his pool.
This gets particularly interesting when the assistance comes from a different kind of pool.
Example: Ambrose is hot tempered and zealous about punishing the bad guys. Noah is a
sly devious bastard who has hidden, but not quite smothered, his desire to help out society’s
victims. They fight crime. During an interrogation, Noah’s trying to convince the suspect
to go along, that Noah’s on his side and that things can go a lot easier if he cooperates. He’s
rolling Persuasive Deceit because he doesn’t care about this pimply little gunsel and knows
damn well that, with a confession in hand, the D.A. is going to make the kid into sandwich
spread. After he declares his action, Ambrose decides to help him out after the fact by giving
the little crook a smack across the chops. The kid’s resisting with Understanding Deceit,
trying to see if Noah’s on the level. They roll.
The kid gets a 2x9. Ambrose gets a 2x5. Noah gets a 2x3. Normally, the kid would see
through Noah like Norman Bates through a bathroom wall, but Ambrose’s success pushes
Noah’s up to a 4x3. The kid’s Gobble Dice reduce it to a 2x3, but it’s not enough. With his
teeth rattled by Ambrose’s chin music, he’s desperate to believe Noah can help him out.

Swift Justice
Characters change quickly and
drastically in A Dirty World.
Confrontations of all sorts can
quickly wear down Qualities and even
Identities, as described under “Conflict.”
Other experiences, however, can shift a
character’s traits around or improve
them instantly.
The Free Quality Slide

At the end of every scene, every player may slide one dot of one Quality,
as long as he can explain why his character changed, and as long as he
isn’t raising something above 5. He could go from Purity 3/Corruption 3
to Purity 2/Corruption 4. He couldn’t slide dots from Purity to Honesty
because they’re not on the same line. Similarly, he couldn’t slide between
Vigor and Grace because they’re Identities, not Qualities, and they’re harder
to change.
There are two reasons to slide a Quality. One is because it’s in character.
The other is to strengthen a Quality you think you’ll need soon. Both these
reasons are perfectly valid.
For example, Clint knows the only way his character Bronwen is getting
into the Serpentine Temple is through guile and stealth. Therefore, he wants to
slide a point from Generosity to Selfishness, because Selfishness is the Quality
that helps you pick locks and sneak like a cat burglar. It does not really matter
that the scene Bronwen was just in is one where her boyfriend broke up with her
over her dangerous lifestyle. Clint wants to sneak.
Another player, Vanessa, goes through a scene where her character Jed endures a savage
beating. Specifically, he gets kicked around by indignant congregants who saw Jed browbeating
their parish priest – a man who was, it turns out, entirely innocent of any wrongdoing. Jed’s
going to help Bronwen infiltrate the temple, but Vanessa specifically chooses to decrease Jed’s
Selfishness, because she feels it’s in character for Jed to regret getting carried away. She wants
him to be more generous later in the game because his motives so far have been pretty venal
and low. She’s staying true to character, even at the cost of effectiveness. That’s her decision.
32 • SWIFT JUSTICE
Is one player better than the other? Emphatically no. If the group is having fun,
you’re playing right. Some groups are going to skew towards tactics and some towards character
drama, and as long as all the players understand each other’s goals and trust one another, there’s
no reason Vanessa and Clint can’t get along, have a great time and be effective.
But honestly, I think most players can do better than “get along.” The system is based on
character, and the ideal is to describe your character’s moods and growth and reversals of
fortune in a way that helps the story move your way. You shouldn’t have to choose between
drama and effectiveness, because the whole system is based on having drama make your
character more effective.
SWIFT JUSTICE • 33
Player motives don’t matter nearly as much when you can
reach the same result either way. Specifically: Clint can, with a
little thought, come up with an in character rationale for why
the scene made Bronwen more selfish. Maybe she was just
starting to trust this guy when he chickened out on her and
now it’s every woman for herself. Instead of “Bronwen becomes
more selfish because it’s good for the plot,” it’s “She decides she’s
better off without that simp, it’s Bronwen for Bronwen and she’s
done fooling around. She’s ready to raid that scumbag temple
by hook or by crook.”
Similarly, Vanessa has a menu of possible options for
Jed that don’t have to screw up Clint’s plan. She might,
”
“Scene? e
for example, decide that Jed’s change of heart is more in
v the active arena than the mental one. Instead of blaming
s li d e a nd impro
You can scene,
Selfishness for his bad behavior, Jed berates himself for
li ti e s o nce per losing his temper. He decides he’s going to control himself
Qua es perm
it.
m s ta n c and make amends by striking the real enemy, no matter
if circu is a
t w h a t, exactly, e r how tough they are. Now, instead of “Jed becomes more
Bu sw
’? T h e v ague an
‘scene mediate Generous because it’s in character,” Vanessa’s play is
it ’s w h e n one im th e “Jed slides a dot from Wrath to Courage because it’s in
is, and
ti o n is resolved v e character… and because if there’s a fight at the Temple,
situa y to mo
ra c te rs are read g e he’ll probably be outnumbered.” Alternately, she could
ch a ch a n
m e th in g else. A
to so on often
slide from Corruption to Purity if she thought Purity
p h y s ic al locati s c e n e , would help, since Jed has become disgusted with
in o f
g ra p h s a change n e o f himself and resolved to do better. Or, if she thought
tele ly: A sce
ecessari
but not n wR a m o n e Corruption would protect her, she could slide in the
k in g fo r Lowbro a n d opposite direction. How does she justify raising
loo ral bars
ver seve
could co lly, a s c e n e Corruption? Hell, Jed just menaced a priest.
o l h a ll s . Genera s
po the PC Sometimes, you find motivation from what
te when oal
is comple ed th e ir g you want your character to do. That’s good
a v e e it her attain n e . because it makes you think about your character.
h new o
hed to a
or switc tim e to ta ke Sometimes, the motivation leads you in a
h e n it ’s a good y c a n
W ct, the particular direction and you use the Qualities
and refle eir
a break lid e a n d th that events have engorged. That’s good because
eir free s
go for th your character is now concretely behaving in
stice.
Swift Ju a manner consistent with the changes she’s
undergone. Either way, you get both ability
and insight.
Raising and Sliding Identities (or, ‘Gradual Justice’)
At the end of each session, you can slide an Identity. The considerations of sliding Qualities at scene’s
end apply here, only more strongly. Since this is a more important change, consider both character
and tactics with greater care. This change represents the sum total of the session’s impact.
Alternately, instead of sliding, you can raise your Identities by trading in Qualities. You can’t
just trade anything for anything, however. Follow the chart.
To Raise… …Trade In This …And This.

Patience Generosity Demonstration
Cunning Selfishness Observation
Vigor Courage Endurance
Grace Wrath Defiance
Understanding Purity Honesty
Persuasion Corruption Deceit
Thus, every Identity costs two points of Quality to raise. This is the only way to improve your
Identities, at the cost of your Qualities. Your Qualities, on the other hand, go up on their own.
Instant Raises for Qualities

Taking certain actions (or enduring certain circumstances) pumps up Qualities naturally. Once per
scene, you can explain to your GM which Quality should rise and why. You can’t raise more than
one Quality per scene, you can’t raise a Quality more than once per scene, and you can only improve
Qualities when events warrant. In other words, once per scene you can pop up one Quality, and
then you’re done with instant improvement. Once per scene is pretty frequent, right?
Generosity: Help the Unwilling

It’s one thing to help someone out who really needs it. That’s very cool. It’s another thing to help
someone who’s going to pay you back. Altruism or self-interest aside, that can be very smart. But
helping someone who does not want your assistance, no matter how badly it’s needed… that’s the
test of real Generosity. So when you interfere to keep your virginal niece from sneaking out to see
lusty (and darkly fascinating) Tad Holmes, you gain a point of Generosity. You have to genuinely
help though – in the sense of improving someone’s life (so giving a recovering opium addict her
drug of choice even when she’s trying to quit – no sale). Also, while short-term successes do work,
instant failures do not, no matter how well intentioned. If you stymie the niece’s attempt tonight,
you get the raise. If you try, and think you succeeded, but she goes out the basement window
instead, that won’t pay off.
Selfishness: Steal From Someone Who Trusts You
It doesn’t get much lower than this, does it? Any time you steal from somebody who trusts you,
your Selfishness improves. Specifically, you have to steal something meaningful – grabbing some
toll change from a millionaire’s dresser is not sufficient. Taking a pencil from your sister’s desk
is not good enough either. You have to take something someone values, something that will be
missed. Note that it doesn’t matter if you get caught later (or if you rob someone by force, for
that matter), you have to steal significant money or a valuable item from someone who did not
expect you to do it.
Demonstration: Come to Understand Something New

Any time you learn something, your ability to explain everything takes an upward jump. You
could bone up your brain power by hitting the books at the library for a couple hours (perhaps
sitting out a scene while the other PCs are off being heroic). On the other hand, if you figure out
the Culvert Strangler’s real identity (or discover your brother’s gay) that can also provide the sort
of mental knock that lets you see the world a new way – and then describe it. As with most of
these, if it’s trivial (“Huh. Quinn’s favorite color is mauve”) it doesn’t qualify.
Observation: Get Taken By Surprise

Whether it’s a trio of gunsels pouncing from an alley or your good friends jumping out from
behind furniture yelling “Happy Birthday!” being taken by surprise teaches you to be less
introspective and more alert to the world around you. These don’t have to be hand-to-the-heart
moments of startlement, either. If you were relying on Honest Joe and, in the course of rifling
through his briefcase you found the wallet you “lost” on the subway, that’s a surprise too. Only
important revelations are enough to raise the Quality. Ordering the Tuna Surprise won’t quite
cut the mustard.
Courage: Win a Fair Struggle (or Against the Odds)

Unlike real life, in which the ‘fair fight’ is as scarce as an honest boxing commissioner, A Dirty
World has math that lets you figure out if a fight is fair or not. It’s all covered under “Conflict,” but
basically if your Combat Potential is equal to or less than the other guy’s, or if you’re outnumbered
or outgunned, it qualifies to improve Courage… which is just what you need to win the next fair
fight. Of course, it simultaneously makes the next person you’re going to fight fairly that much
tougher, but those are the breaks.
This doesn’t have to be a boxing match, either. Any form of conflict where you were overmatched
can improve your Courage. All you have to do is prevail. But (as with all improvement) it’s never
the result of unimportant conflict. Beating Professor Hablenfleisch at a friendly game of chess
at the park carries no weight. If you bet him a hundred bucks – or agree that if you win he talks
about the mysterious Project Paperclip, while if he wins you never trouble him again – then that
intellectual triumph certainly matters.
Wrath: Torment a
Helpless Person
“M y Fr ie nd s Ar en ’t
You’d think slapping the grin off a
Ve ry Fr ie nd ly.”
kidnapper’s face to make him spill where Reading about Swift Justice
’s rules for
he caged the girl would make a detective Defiance and Wrath, or Cor
ruption and Deceit,
feel better, but in fact the exercise of it may occur to you that the
most certain way
power over the defenseless tends to be a for your party to gain those
precious Qualities
little bit addictive. It’s not just the rough is to treat each other with
desperate cruelty.
stuff with a rubber hose or some cigarette If your character insults and
abuses someone
burns, either. Humiliating a stutterer in else’s character, you can bot
h win – you by
front of his date with nothing but harsh gaining Wrath and him by gai
ning Defiance.
language can also make a character It works just like that.
feel like a big man and, therefore, Many gamers are reluctant
make him more capable of the next
to jeopardize
‘party harmony,’ even when
sadistic act on the menu. It’s got to be it’s in character,
but close trust and thoughtfu
genuine discomfort – something that lness just aren’t
the hallmarks of noir. With
bothers the victim for a couple days
these rules, PCs
are encouraged to lie to, ste
at least. Stealing a parking spot is not
al from, and
occasionally beat upon one
sufficient, not unless you’re enough
another. Since it’s
explicitly the nature of the
game, don’t hold
of a jerk to go slash their tires when it against your fellow player
they’re parked a half-acre away.
s, and the Quality
boosts should salve the stin
g somewhat.
Endurance: Survive Understand though: This isn
’t a license to annoy
Losing a Fight the other players or derail the
GM’s plot. It
Unlike Courage, Endurance is just means that characters
are encouraged to
only improved through physical interact, and noir interaction
is seldom warm
confrontation. It doesn’t matter and sugary.
whether you even got hit or not, as
On the other hand, every sce
long as you lost. If you ran away, got ne is an
opportunity to interact with
captured, pled for mercy and were someone and
thereby crank a Quality. If you
taunted out of the bar… well, okay, pester and
sandbag the other character
better luck next time. You cannot s just to make your
character stronger, it’s certain
jerk up your Endurance, however, ly going to bug
them when they’re trying to
unless someone tried to do you get their characters
stronger meaningfully. So
serious bodily harm – took a find a happy middle
ground. Get enough tension
swing or took a shot – and you, as and antagonism to
have fun. When you stop hav
a result, backed down or got badly ing fun – or more
importantly, when the other
hurt or were otherwise stymied in player stops – then
it’s time to ease off.
your goal.
Defiance: Be Scorned
You know all that stuff that builds up Wrath – from insults up through Chinese water torture?
When that gets done to you, your Defiance rises. It’s pretty simple, really. Anything that would
give him Wrath gives you Defiance. The catch is, you have to be the helpless one. If he spits
on you and you deck him, you don’t get a Defiance raise. No, you have to wind up biting your
tongue and stewing over the injustice. Paying him back later is certainly kosher, and using your
newfound Defiance to do it is poetic justice. But you only get this benefit if you were unable (or
unwilling) to avenge or extricate yourself during the scene where you were victimized.
Purity: Right a Wrong, At Cost, Without Duress

Purity is difficult to increase, and rightly so: It’s a dirty world out there. PCs often right wrongs,
as do characters in noir movies and detective novels. So do people in real life, for that matter. But
taking a moment to hand a woman a carelessly dropped parcel isn’t really a test of purity – too
easy, costs nothing, it’s more an accident than a ‘wrong’ and even a real jerk might do it if he was
in a good mood or she was pretty enough. This is more like owning up to a lie that hurt someone,
when you’re pretty sure you could get away with it indefinitely.
That’s where the “without duress” clause works in. Owning up to your embezzlement because
someone has a gun to your head, or because you’re going down anyway and might get a more
lenient sentence if you confess… that’s not pure, that’s just common sense. Admitting a crime
you got away with because it’s the right thing to do and taking your punishment like a man –
that’s Purity.
Corruption: Make Someone Miserable,

for No Gain, Deliberately
Another instant improvement with a lot of strings attached, it’s nevertheless much easier to
increase Corruption. Push a stranger into a mud puddle, slash a random set of tires, vandalize
a synagogue… the trick is to do it from no motive other than pure, wretched malice. Stealing
somebody’s honeymoon cash certainly provides adequate misery, but there the cruelty is alloyed
with greed, making the corruption less devastating. By the same token, making someone
miserable by accident, while embarrassing, is not the kind of diabolical meanness that’s rewarded
with an increased ability to do ill.
Honesty: Suffer Because You Were Deceived

“Fool me once, shame on you,” goes the old saying. “Fool me twice, shame on me.” When your
character gets tricked and it hurts her, she can come to value Honesty all the more because it’s
scarce. It has to have some punch, though. Not a petty little “I said I was working late when I
really went to the track” lie. Not a harmless “No, your hair looks great like that!” deception. Not a
benevolent ruse like “His last words were ‘Tell Carla I love her’” when, in fact, his last words were
“I’ll kill that dirty rat!” No, you have to get stabbed in the back with something like “I said I was
working late when I really went to your sister’s house and banged her.” It has to be a wrenching,
major betrayal of trust. Luckily, people in noir circumstances seem to be treacherous with
great frequency.
Deceit: Have Your Faith Betrayed

If you believe in someone and she fails you, you may become cynical and mendacious yourself. If
nothing is true, what does it matter whether you were at work or at the track (or at your sister-in-
law’s house)? Liars devalue the truth, and nothing makes that easier than being taken in yourself.
Plus, on a practical level, if you got fooled you may pick up some pointers.
You may think the circumstances that raise Deceit are very similar to those that raise Honesty.
You’re right. There are many circumstances that you can use to increase either Quality. However,
becoming more deceptive is easier because its opportunities are broader. To raise Honesty,
someone has to do it to you on purpose. Deceit can go up as the result of unintentional failure. If
you trust that P.I. to find your daughter and he winds up in a shallow grave, it’s not like he meant
to deceive you. But you still extended your trust and pulled back a bleeding stump.
Conflict
You want it, he’s got it and he won’t share. That’s
conflict. Maybe you try to charm him into changing
his mind. Maybe you apply reason and logic to
undermine his convictions. Maybe you pistol-whip
him and pry it from his unconscious fingers. These are
all resolutions of disputes, and they are all handled
the same way.
Step One: Define the Confrontation
Every conflict can be defined by how you’re trying to attain your goal and how any barriers
are opposing your will. Any action you might take can, in turn, be described by an Identity +
Quality pool.
Sometimes, you’re being thwarted by the inanimate – you need to climb a rock wall (Vigorous
Defiance) or crack a cipher (Patient Observation) or patch a leaky hull (Patient Demonstration).
You roll your pool, maybe against a Difficulty, and if you get a set, you succeed. If you fail, you
may get another try, or not, depending on circumstances.
Far more often, you’re at cross-purposes with another person. That’s when things
get interesting.
Maybe your real goal is something entirely external and he’s just in your way: You want
to steal the diamonds and he’s the security guard. Or you need to see Dr. Owens without an
appointment and she’s the secretary. In this case, it’s an opposed roll between your pool and your
opponent’s pool. Roll Cunning Selfishness against the guard’s Patient Observation to palm the
jewel, or Persuasive Purity (or Corruption, Honesty, or Deceit, depending on circumstances)
against the Secretary’s Understanding (of the appropriate Quality) to appeal to her better nature,
or to suborn her with a bribe, or to explain your situation, or to come up with a good excuse.
The opponent tries to gobble your highest or widest set (you pick) and, if he fails, you surpass
his interference.
Just maybe, however, your problem is not something just past that guy. Your problem is
that guy. Maybe you’re the guard and you want to stop the robber who’s bolting out with the
diamonds. Maybe you’re a secretary trying to convince a charming stranger to overcome his
reluctance and meet you for a drink later. Whatever the situation, it’s handled as an attack on a
character’s Quality and, once they bottom out, his Identity.
In that case, pick the Quality you want to attack, explain how you’re undermining it, and
what pool you’re using. The guard uses Vigorous Wrath to attack the fleeing thief ’s Defiance. The
secretary uses Persuasive Corruption against her target’s Purity.
CONFLICT • 41
Step Two: Roll ‘Em
Once the relevant pools are defined, everyone rolls at the same time. The Widest set goes first.
If two sets have equal Width, the Higher one goes first. If they’re equally tall and Wide, they
happen simultaneously, or you can roll a die for a tiebreaker.
Any time one of a character’s Qualities or Identities takes damage, that character loses a die
from an unused set. Once a set is reduced to 1x width, it’s no longer a set.
Example: Ron rolls and gets two sets, a 2x6 and a 3x1. But the two palookas beating
on him both roll very well, getting a 3x3 and a 3x5. The 3x5 hits first. In addition to the
damage, (explained under “Consequences”) it knocks a die from one of his sets. Ron chooses
to take it on his 2x6. That set is now ruined. When the 3x3 hits, he has to reduce his 3x1 to
a 2x1: He can’t use the unmatched six to soak up that penalty.
Characters can resist with any plausible action and pool. Dodging a blow is a Graceful
Defiance pool, blocking is Vigorous Defiance, resisting seduction through strength of character
is Understanding Purity, while resisting it with cynical disbelief is Understanding Corruption.
Resistance produces Gobble Dice, which can be applied to spoil an attacker’s sets… if they’re big
enough and (sometimes) fast enough.
Example: Quick Vinnie is trying to dip the wallet out of Agnes’ purse without Agnes
noticing. He rolls a 3x2 result on his Cunning Selfishness pool. Agnes’ player rolls Cunning
Observation to spot it and gets a 2x10. While the dice are high enough, Vinnie is just too
fast – his action is completed before Agnes has a chance to rally herself and examine her
possessions.
Later, Vinnie tries it again on Fred’s wallet. He gets a 2x8 this time, while Fred rolls a
3x3. While his set is wide enough, it’s not tall enough to ruin Vinnie’s smooth moves.
With his luck holding steady, Vinnie goes after Miranda’s purse. This time, he rolls a
2x7 and Miranda rolls a 2x7 too. Their actions go off at the same time, and with only one
of her Gobble 7 dice she’s able to spoil his set. She yanks back her purse and screams for the
police.
42 • CONFLICT
Did You Mean It?
Talk ed to Deat h
Physical actions are clear. If you fire a gun
at someone, that’s an attack. You either Since anything can be used to attack anything,
try to climb a wall or you don’t. You’re does that mean it’s possible to talk someone to
either trying to break into the office or you death? No, for two reasons.
aren’t. First off, I’m making it a rule: Verbal actions can’t
It’s different with the wars of words and reduce someone’s Vigor to zero. It just doesn’t
feelings that are a large part of make much sense.
A Dirty World’s conflicts. Depending Secondly, you can’t just fecklessly decide you’re
on the circumstances and character using this Quality to attack that Identity. It has
history, “Move it you sumbitch!” may be to make sense. If you’re trying to use Cunning
construed as a deadly insult or as friendly Observation to reduce someone’s Endurance to
encouragement. It is therefore imperative zero, you have to explain how, exactly, that’s
for all the parties in an argument to going to work. (I, for one, can’t figure out how
agree on whether the conversation is quick, sly glances would make someone physically
serious enough to roll dice. Sometimes exhausted.) The GM has the final say about which
an exchange of insults is just banter. Identities and Qualities go in a pool. That’s not so
Sometimes it’s a genuine attempt to she can screw you around, but to keep the game
erode another character’s Courage or consistent.
Generosity. A few words of flattery
may be meaningless trifles, or a serious Furthermore, you know how physical actions
assault on Purity. are clear? They’re not even that clear. A fight
scene against unimpressive local bullies may not
This issue is especially acute in conflicts warrant a blow-by-blow resolution. A few Wrath
between PCs, which are common in rolls may convince them that they’re looking for a
A Dirty World and often desirable. In score, not a challenge.
some instances, every few words spoken
can alter the other person’s Qualities: The more rolls made in a scene, the more intense
These are intense and memorable and important that scene becomes and the more
conflicts. In other instances, just one or damage it can do to a character – even a character
two rolls on each side may represent who comes out on top. As a GM, use this as a
an entire lengthy exchange. In that pacing tool. More rolls means more investment. If
case, the confrontation is less intense: the PCs are asking for more rolls, it’s because they
Neither party is committed enough to really want to push the situation. You should only
risk serious Quality damage, the kind of ask them for lots of rolls in really critical scenes.
thing that leaves you physically weak, Similarly, if you’re a player, understand that you
or emotionally drained, or intellectually don’t have to call for a roll every time you make a
depressed and distracted for days. These statement – only when you think the cut and thrust
conflicts aren’t less important, but the of argument is enough to make a difference.
stakes are lower.
CONFLICT • 43
Step Three: Consequences
Against the inanimate, if you beat the
Difficulty, it’s done.
When getting past an opponent who’s just
in the way, he applies his gobble dice to your
sets. If you can retain a set, you succeed. If
not, you’ve been thwarted.
When attacking an enemy directly, the
outcome depends on the Width of your roll,
but he always loses a die from a set if you
succeed before he has a chance to act.
Width is more important than Height, in
this instance, but you still want to roll High
because (1) they might go sooner and (2)
they’re harder to spoil with gobble dice.
Making Peopl e Do Things

No character can make another character do anything, except die.
Control of a PC is always in the hands of the player. Control of a GMC
is always in the hands of the GM. So saying “I’m going to talk Wu
Fan out of his evil opium lord ways” is perfectly kosher… but even
if your Purity kicks his ass and you beat his Corruption down to zero
and then his Persuasion Identity to zero too, you have not reformed
Wu Fan. What you have done is provoked an emotional and personal
crisis. He may decide to continue his nefarious deeds, but he’s sure as
hell going to have a tougher time of it with no dice in his Persuasive
Corruption pool.
Many characters (PC and GMC) can be bullied into doing things
because the player just doesn’t want to see his hard-earned
Qualities and Identities whittled away. But just because you
reduced old man Murdoch’s Generosity to zero, you haven’t made
him penniless. You’ve just made him unwilling to spend money. If
you knock out Professor Sanchez’ Demonstration Quality, it hasn’t
made him an idiot: It just means he’s going to be distracted and
inarticulate for some time.
44 • CONFLICT
Step Four:
Retreat, Repeat or Escalate
After the fallout, everyone decides what to do
next. Some characters may wish to withdraw
from the contest – fleeing via Graceful
Defiance, glowering and saying “You win this
round, Burns” as you stalk out of the bar, or
agreeing to go on that date with the persistent
secretary. If they are able to withdraw, the Outcomes
conflict is over for them. Width Result
Alternately, the characters may be eager
for more punishment, in which case you just 2-3 Slide a point off the Quality.
go back to step one. If the Quality is empty, slide
The final option is to take the conflict a point from the associated
in a new direction – maybe drawing a gun Identity on the same side of
on the woman who slapped you, or maybe the page (Vigor for Courage,
taking a punch at the guy who insulted you. Cunning for Selfishness,
It can work the other way too: If Steve’s about Understanding for Honesty
to shoot at you and you’re unarmed, you and so forth).
can make an emotional appeal (Persuasive
4 Remove a point from the
Honesty – “Steve, I never meant to hurt you,
Quality. If the Quality is
you have to believe that!”) or a reasoned
empty, remove a point from
argument (Cunning Demonstration – “Steve,
its associated Identity.
the bar next door is full of cops. If they hear a
gunshot, they’ll come running and you are far 5+ Remove a point directly
too handsome to fare well in prison”) targeting from the Identity nearest the
Steve’s Wrath. targeted Quality.
Weapons, Surprises and Secrets

In any conflict, outside factors can give a
big edge. In a physical conflict, it could be
a weapon. In a clash of minds, it could be
an unexpected piece of information or an
argument from an unexpected direction. In
an emotional struggle, nothing hits below the
belt like digging up dirt the other guy thought
was well buried.
CONFLICT • 45
There are two ways to use an advantage, of whatever type. The first way is to add dice to your
pool, making success more likely. The other is to increase Width after you get a success. But
when you declare an action in a conflict, you have to say which way you’re using your edge. You
can use it before or after, but not both.
If it’s a minor advantage, it gives +1W or +1d. A serious advantage is +2W or +2d. A grievous
advantage is +3W or +3d. Examples are given below.
Minor League (+1)

Physical Weaponry: Half a brick, axe handle, switchblade, kitchen knife, chair leg, bag of
gravel, broken-off bottle, tiny little derringer.
Intellectual Surprise: “But the suspect’s sister will testify that he was with her at 8:00 Sunday
night.” “Your fingerprint is on the doorknob of the building where the crime took place.” “Phone
company documents show that the oil company’s lawyers called the Senator a week before the
critical vote.”
Emotional Secret: “You have a major-league crush on Billy Jack!” “Oh, I don’t think you’d
like it if your husband found out about the surprise party you planned.” “When they were picking
on Tina, you were jeering right along with them, weren’t you?”
Serious Matters (+2)

Physical Weaponry: Handgun, fire axe, most antique hand-to-hand weapons..
Intellectual Surprise: “But the suspect was photographed five miles away from the crime
scene at 8:00 Sunday night.” “Your fingerprint is on the corpse.” “Although much has been
redacted, we have the minutes of the meeting between the oil company executives and the
Senator.”
Emotional Secret: “You went all the way with Billy Jack?!?” “Oh, I don’t think you’d like it if
your husband found out about your appointments with the cabana boy.” “When Tina got hurt,
you abandoned her like the rest of them, didn’t you?”
It’s Horrendous (+3)

Physical Weaponry: Submachine gun, hand grenade, chainsaw dipped in cyanide.
Intellectual Surprise: “But the suspect was photographed at the cotillion at 8:00 Sunday
night. You can see the clock in the background and… isn’t that you in the foreground, your
honor?” “Your fingerprint is on the interior surface of the corpse’s dried skull, as well as on the
murder weapon.” “On January 10, the oil company transferred $30,000 to an offshore account.
On January 11, the Senator received $30,000 from that same offshore account.”
Emotional Secret: “You knew Billy Jack was your long-lost brother and seduced him
anyway?!?” “Oh, I don’t think you’d like it if your husband found out that your son was actually
fathered by a death-row convict.” “When Tina died, you went back to hide evidence and bury
the body, didn’t you?”
46 • CONFLICT
Conflicts Revealed
Because Qualities are a little vague and conflict can be somewhat abstract, here are some
examples so that you can see how quick and versatile it is.
Example #1: Gene Wants To Sleep With Madge

Gene, with Persuasion 4 and Corruption 3, wants to sleep with Madge (Understanding 2,
Persuasion 3, Purity 3, Corruption 2). He knows her husband’s working late so he drops by and
initially just plays at being the friendly co-worker who happened to be in the neighborhood.
Gene’s a GMC, and Madge’s player is Emily.
GM: As you’re talking and offering him that drink, Gene tries to maneuver himself so
that he’s leaning close to you, but he’s subtle about it.
EMILY: “Whoopsie!” Madge gives him the benefit of the doubt and assumes he’s just
being a little clumsy.
GM: All right, he’s going to roll Persuasive Corruption to nonverbally turn you on.
EMILY: And I’m going to roll Understanding Purity to be oblivious.
The GM rolls 7d and gets a 3x3. Emily rolls a 2x2 – her gobble dice aren’t high enough. If it’d
been x3 or higher, even a pair of Gobblers would ruin his trip threes, because in this instance
time isn’t a factor.
GM: Gene’s looking pretty cute, in a grubby, feral way. Slide a point from Purity to
Corruption. He puts his hand on your shoulder, saying, “Is this a new dress?”
Another Persuasive Corruption roll.
EMILY: I spill the drink on him to spoil the mood.
GM: Are you going to make it look like an accident, or are you going to deliberately
throw it?
EMILY: Mmmm… I’ll make it look accidental. Madge always wants to keep up
appearances. Persuasive Purity?
GM: Sure.
EMILY: I’m going to try and do it as an attack on his Corruption though.
They roll and this time they both get 2x8 results. Gene slides a point from Corruption to Purity.
Emily slides a point from Purity to Corruption.
CONFLICT • 47
GM: As you soak him, he puts his other hand on your other shoulder and says, “You’re
trembling.” He’s moving in to kiss you.
EMILY: “Gene, don’t. We both know you don’t want me. You just want to hurt my
husband.” Persuasive Corruption, attacking his Corruption.
GM: I think you need to use Understanding Corruption. After all, you’re not trying to
persuade him of anything, just trying to reveal to him his own ignoble motives.
And this time, I think time matters - you want to say your piece before he can put
your lips to other uses.
Emily rolls Understanding Corruption, and since her Corruption pool has been amped up to 4,
she rolls 6d. She gets a solid 3x4 result. Gene’s diminished Persuasive Corruption pool yields him
a 2x10. That kiss would have been something… but Emily’s words put a chill on it. Not only does
he slide a point off Corruption (because being a suave seducer man is a far more attractive way
to be corrupt than being a sneaky, envious weirdo) but he loses a point from his 2x10 set, giving
him no success with which to soil her.
If Gene continues, he may wear down Madge’s Purity (and eventually Understanding) to
the point that Emily decides Madge gives in just to keep her Identity intact. On the other hand,
Emily could back him off with continued shots to his Corruption (if she can think of more
plausible ways to use her improved Corruption), or she could change the nature of the conflict.
For example, if she decides she’s going to jerk away from him and go out the door, the GM has to
decide if Gene tries to grab her or not, turning the emotional conflict into a physical one. If they
go that route, Gene’s probably opening himself up for more Understanding Corruption attacks
from Madge, as she bitterly accuses him of showing his true nature – not a romantic, but a brute.
Does Gene want to go that far? He’s lost two points of Quality already and there are other fish
in the sea. This is becoming an important scene for Madge because the rolls are coming thick
and fast.
However the scene ends, Emily gets to slide one of Madge’s Qualities. Possibly she chooses
to slide a point of Corruption back to Purity – easily explained if she resisted Gene’s grimy wiles,
but even if she caved in she could slide a point back by explaining how much she regretted
her moment of weakness and how determined she was to not let the situation get any worse.
Furthermore, she can raise a Quality too – there are cases to be made for raising her Observation,
Honesty or Deceit. If she successfully got rid of Gene without surrendering her virtue, she could
get a point of Courage. But only one point is available per scene, so Emily has to choose how this
seduction affected Madge.
48 • CONFLICT
Example #2: Ambrose Wants To Clean Up Precinct 13
Unaware of his wife’s drama, Sergeant Ambrose Dickerson is down at Precinct 13 leaning on
Detective Noah Smith. Melvin is playing Ambrose, and one of his fellow players (Carrie) is
controlling Noah, so the GM is refereeing a PC on PC conflict.
MELVIN: Ambrose corners Noah and pulls him into the locker room where they’re alone.
GM: Does Noah go?
CARRIE: He doesn’t want to, but he gives in before risking Qualities.
MELVIN: Once we’re inside, I give him a hard and level stare. “I know about the money,
Noah. This can’t go on. You have to give it back, make this right.”
CARRIE: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
GM: You guys want to roll for this, or are the stakes not high enough yet?
MELVIN: We don’t have to yet.
CARRIE: Soon, maybe.
MELVIN: “I saw you take it. Don’t make me go to Internal Affairs. The precinct’s short
staffed as it is.”
CARRIE: “If you really think I’ll do more good behind bars for skimming some money –
which I’m not saying I did – when no one got hurt and it would just rot in the
evidence locker… then yeah, go ahead. Rat me out. While we’re playing Johnny
Pureshirt, maybe those Internal Affairs guys would be interested in hearing the
truth about Cortez’ convenient ‘fall down the stairs’ right before he told us where
Murdoe was holding the girl.”
GM: Okay, these are serious threats. What pools are you two using to browbeat each
other. Mel? The Internal Affairs threat?
MELVIN: Persuasive Honesty?
GM: Is Ambrose really willing to do it? If it’s a bluff, Persuasive Deceit.
MELVIN: Ambrose… isn’t sure. I’m not sure. How about Persuasive Purity?
GM: Okay. What about Noah?
CARRIE: He’d never fink on Ambrose, but he bluffs about it. Persuasive Deceit.
(Note that Carrie is choosing to play this openly. Other groups might have more fun if the pool
she chose was a secret between her and the GM.)
CONFLICT • 49
They roll, and neither one gets a set. It’s inconclusive.
MELVIN: “It’s not the same thing, Noah. Murdoe would have killed her, the clock was
ticking… it wasn’t just greed. You’re a good cop and I don’t want to see you lose
sight of that! This precinct needs Noah Smith, but the smart Noah Smith who
cares about putting scumbags behind bars… not the dirty Noah Smith who’s
doing the same things those scumbags would do, if they had a badge and the
public trust.”
CARRIE: Ouch. “Who got hurt? Nobody got hurt, it’s not like the case is going to fall apart
because it’s only a big wad of cash instead of a huge one. The thieves were stealing
from thieves, and they’re both too rich to miss it, too rich to get caught without
their fancy lawyers. You know this case is going to be hung in litigation for years,
while both of them walk free buying diamond rings and drinking champagne
while the two of us make do walking beats in year-old shoes. Why shouldn’t I wet
my beak a little? Who does it hurt?”
MELVIN: “It hurts you, Noah. I can’t think of anything worse that could happen to you than
to become like them. Except maybe for you to change and not even realize it.”
GM: Roll ‘em.
MELVIN: Patient Generosity? I’m trying to help him, and trying to help the whole
precinct.
GM: What are you targeting?
MELVIN: Do I have to target a Quality? Can’t this be about my larger goal of ridding the
precinct of corruption?
GM: I think you’re going to have to do better than that. Are you really willing to go
after Noah’s Selfishness, even though it’s helped you?
MELVIN: If I must… Couldn’t I go after his Corruption instead?
GM: Okay.
CARRIE: Great. I’m blocking it with Persuasive Corruption.
GM: Not a counterattack against his Purity?
CARRIE: No, Noah’s just ducking and covering at this point.
They roll and Melvin gets a 2x2. Carrie gets a 2x3, and is able to use them as gobble dice to wreck
his set.
50 • CONFLICT
CARRIE: Screw this. Noah slumps down on a bench and says, “You’re right. I just… I just
wanted it to be my turn, you know? My turn with the good stuff.”
MELVIN: “That stuff ’s no good if it costs you your soul. Are you going to put the money
back?”
CARRIE: Noah nods. “I’ll… I’ll pay it back. God Ambrose, I spent it, you know? I can’t just
get that kind of cash, if I could I wouldn’t have taken it in the first place. I’ll pay it
back when I can.”
GM: Does Noah mean it?
CARRIE: Oh, hell no. Persuasive Deceit. I’m not targeting a Quality, I’m just trying to get
him to believe it and get off my back.
GM: Melvin? Gobble with Understanding Deceit.
MELVIN: Sure, but before I do, Ambrose claps him on the back and says, “You’ll pay me
back. I can front you the cash. I’ll take out a second mortgage.”
CARRIE: Ooh, that’s low.
GM: Do we even need to roll?
At the end of this scene, the players have been lucky. Nobody scored enough of a hit to decrease a
Quality. Each gets a free Quality slide – maybe Melvin moves one off his Generosity to represent
the money he’s fronting to Noah, or maybe he moves one to Courage because he had the strength
to confront his colleague and jeopardize their friendship. Carrie has plenty of call to slide stuff off
of Selfishness or Corruption or Deceit, since Noah can see Ambrose sacrificing on his behalf.
Furthermore, it’s possible that they can raise a Quality. Ambrose clearly qualifies for a point
of Purity, or maybe Generosity instead. Noah probably doesn’t – though if he decides later on to
leave Noah hanging financially, or even frame him for the theft, he could easily score a point of
Selfishness, and set Ambrose up for a point of Honesty or Deceit in the process.
Example #3: Ambrose Wants To Kill Gene

After Madge tells Ambrose about Gene’s licentious behavior, Ambrose goes to visit his co-worker.
Madge tries to stop him, in a scene where neither player is willing to risk lost Qualities, but she
at least persuades him to leave his gun at home. As soon as he’s out the door, she calls Noah on
the phone, but Ambrose is going to get to Gene’s house first.
Ambrose has Vigor 4, Grace3, Courage 3, Wrath 4, Endurance 3, Defiance 3. Noah has Vigor
2, Grace 4, Courage 4, Wrath 1, Endurance 2, Defiance 2.
Gene has Vigor 2, Grace 3, Courage 1, Wrath 1, Endurance 1, Defiance 2.
GM: Gene opens the door in his bathrobe, blinking. “Sarge? Is there a break on the
CONFLICT • 51
Dillworth case?”
MELVIN: I slug him.
GM: No chat first?
MELVIN: I slug him. Courage or Wrath?
GM: You’re both unarmed and your Combat Potential is way higher. Wrath him. He’s
trying to dodge with Graceful Defiance.
Ambrose has an 8d pool against Gene’s 5d defense, and since he’s got a minor surprise (see page
46) he gets a +1d bonus. He rolls a 3x1, while Gene gets a 2x2. Too slow to dodge, Sergeant
Dickerson slams a meaty fist into Gene’s breadbasket. Gene slides a point of Courage to Wrath.
GM: “Sarge, what’s going on? What?” He seems genuinely baffled and afraid as he
stumbles back into the house. He’s trying some kind of Persuasive attack on your
Wrath.
MELVIN: I don’t believe him. Madge wouldn’t lie to me. I hit him. Bam, right on the
kisser.
GM: Another 8d pool, without the surprise bonus. He’s got 6d in… whatever he’s
using, Honesty or Deceit.
They roll. This time, Ambrose gets a stellar 4x7, while Gene gets a 3x1. Gene would lose a point
of Courage, but since it’s already gone, he loses a point of Vigor instead. He also loses a die from
his set, but since it’s wide enough to remain a 2x1, he still gets through to Ambrose and slides a
point off the Sergeant’s Wrath. The GM nods to Carrie.
GM: At this point, Noah shows up. You pull up just in time to see Ambrose go across
Gene’s face. Blood arcs so hard you can see it spatter the window next to the front
door. What are you doing?
CARRIE: I run up through the doorway and grab Ambrose in a bear hug.
GM: Are you trying to attack a Quality?
CARRIE: No, I just don’t want him to clobber Gene again.
MELVIN: I’m clobbering Gene again.
GM: Sure you don’t want to kick him? He’s curled up in a ball on the floor. He’s also
pleading for you to stop. “Nothing happened Sarge, I’m sorry, please, I’m sorry!”
52 • CONFLICT
MELVIN: Is that an attack on my Wrath?
GM: Oh yeah.
MELVIN: One more hit.
Melvin rolls his decreased Vigorous Wrath pool and gets a 2x3. Carrie rolls Vigorous Courage
and gets a 2x3 also. Rolling for Gene, the GM gets a 2x8, which couldn’t come at a better time.
Gene’s 2x8 slides another point off Ambrose’s Wrath and costs him a die from a set, ruining
his attack.
GM: Since Gene is so pathetic, Ambrose is forced to pause – just long enough for Noah
to charge in and grab him. Next round – what’re you doing? Ambrose, if you
want to take another shot at Gene, you need to shrug off Noah – either Vigorous
Defiance or Graceful Defiance, depending on whether you want to use muscle
or agility. You have to gobble out any successes he rolls. Noah, if you want to just
hold onto him, it’s either Vigorous Endurance or Graceful Endurance. Gene is
trying to scuttle away, clutching his ribs and dribbling blood all over the floor.
MELVIN: I’m doing a multiple action – one to break the grip, one to hit Gene.
GM: One Vigorous Endurance, unless you want to escape Gracefully…? No, why
would you? One Vigorous Wrath. Which pool is lower?
MELVIN: Vigorous Wrath is down to 6d.
GM: Roll 5d and hope for two sets.
CARRIE: “Christ Ambrose, you could kill him!” I’m holding on.
GM: You making an attack with the words?
CARRIE: Mmmm… no, I’d better concentrate on just getting around him and keeping him
from messing up Gene. I know he’s bigger so I’m just being tricky, trying to keep
him wrong-footed. Graceful Endurance, then.
They roll. Gene gets no sets on his attempt to dodge. Carrie gets no sets on her attempt to keep
Ambrose contained. Ambrose rolls a 3x8 but no second set.
GM: Since you need to get free before you hit Gene again, you have to spend that set on
your escape. You are out, though. Gene, however, has scrambled over to a chest of
drawers and is fumbling inside it.
MELVIN: Uh oh. Whatever’s in there, I want to get it first.
CONFLICT • 53
GM: That’s… hm, Graceful Wrath. He’s using Graceful Courage to get whatever it is.
Carrie?
CARRIE: I’m shouting “Both of you, snap out of it! Just calm down!” Double attack on
Wrath using Persuasive Honesty?
GM: Try Persuasive Purity.
CARRIE: Crap. That’s a pretty low pool.
GM: Take a penalty die and try for two sets. If you want to focus on only one of them –
train your body language on him, try to catch his eye – you have to declare which
one.
CARRIE: I’ll just concentrate on Ambrose. I can’t hack the penalty.
MELVIN: Thanks a lot.
They roll. Gene gets a 2x10. Ambrose gets a 2x8. Carrie gets a 2x9.
GM: Gene goes first. He has pulled out his service revolver and aimed it at Ambrose.
CARRIE: Nuts. Can I scrub my attack?
GM: Sure, though sliding a point to Courage might actually help him right now.
MELVIN: Actually, Courage is maxed out.
CARRIE: Never mind then.
MELVIN: Does my set do anything?
GM: Nope. Next round?
MELVIN: I’m trying to Vigorously, Courageously wrench the gun out of his hand.
CARRIE: I’m drawing my gun.
GM: Gene’s yelling at you to get back. We’ll consider it a Persuasive attack on your
Courage. If he gets a set, he’s going to use the gun bonus to raise Width.
They roll. Ambrose gets a 4x4, easily acting before Gene’s 2x1. He does not damage one of Gene’s
Qualities, however, because his goal was to seize the gun, not to affect Gene. The GM decides
that even though there’s no particular rule about it, Gene’s warning loses a die from the set, since
he doesn’t have the weapon any more. Noah has the gun out.
54 • CONFLICT
GM: Flushed with the victorious sensation of beating the blood out of Gene, you’re
easily brave enough to disarm him. Now it’s back to Wrath. You going to throw
the gun down? Put it away? Pistol-whip him? Shoot his cheating ass?
MELVIN: Um…
GM: We’ll come back to you. Gene’s putting his hands up. If you break off your attack,
he won’t try to plead. Noah? Where’s that gun of yours pointed, anyhow?
CARRIE: At the floor… for now. “Ambrose, stop! You’ll kill him! And then I… I’ll either
have to shoot you or help you bury him. I don’t want to do either one.”
MELVIN: Yeah… Ambrose is all angried out for the moment. He’s going to slowly lower the
gun. Dump its shells on the floor. Turn and go.
CARRIE: “Y’know Gene, I think you should stay away from his wife.”
GM: Gene seems to have figured that out for himself.
CONFLICT • 55
Character Generation
To create a character for A Dirty World you need
to have numbers in all her Identities, numbers in at
least some of her Qualities, a secret, and a profession.
(Professions are explained below.) If you feel the
need for Specialties, you can get those too. You start
out with a pool of creation points to spend on your
character, typically 40. You get a profession for free,
along with a single point of Vigor, and then you can
spend your points as follows.
IDENTITY: Each point in an Identity
We ak !
costs three creation points.
Forty points won’t buy you a lot,
I’ll admit
that freely. While the perception
QUALITY: Each point in a Quality that starting
characters are incompetent is com
costs a creation point. mon to many
games, in A Dirty World it’s esp
ecially true.
But it’s okay. Honest. The reason
SPECIALTY: Each Specialty costs two for this is that
good ol’ Swift Justice. By the end
creation points. You can of a session,
your character may have stacked
never have more than three a good 5-6
points directly on her Qualities –
Specialties. more if she
didn’t loose a lot of points in con
flicts, or if the
GM is pretty generous with wha
PROFESSION:Each profession past the t constitutes a
‘finished scene.’
first free one costs three
creation points. If you feel your character doesn’t
have the
dice pools to succeed, push her
into situations
When you pick your secret, it’s where she can utilize Swift Justice
. If you can’t
Minor by default. It’s something that is, get exactly what you want, conside
r raising its
at the very least, embarrassing – you’re opposite and then either using the
free slide
secretly in love with the wrong person, to move points over or (more dev
iously) spur
you pilfered money from the family conflicts with other PCs and try to
provoke
business, or you were responsible for an them into attacking your Qualitie
s and sliding
accident where someone got badly hurt. them for you. Of course, that’s a
risky gamble,
If you upgrade your secret to Serious, because that PC may not quit whe
n your
you get another point to buy Qualities, unwanted Quality is empty, and
he might get
Identities and the like. But that’s for a the Wide rolls needed to just hac
k off a dot
secret that really changes your life if it’s instead of sliding it. Don’t say I didn
’t warn you.
widely known, and not in a good way.
CHARACTER GENERATION • 57
Serious secrets are things like being illegitimate, cheating on a spouse, or being an alcoholic. You
can get three points if your secret is Horrendous. If a Horrendous secret gets out, it wrecks your
life, leaving you disgraced and ostracized, if not jailed or dead. Deliberate cannibalism, murder,
or betraying your country during wartime are examples of Horrendous secrets.
After you pick your secret, explain it to the player sitting to your left. Her character knows
your secret, somehow. If she decides she knows because she was involved (maybe tangentially),
that’s fine, but she can also know without sharing any guilt. Try to forget the other player knows,
if your character doesn’t know hers is on to him. If you need a distraction, consider the secret
that the player to your right. Here’s hoping it’s juicy.
The Six Basic Professions

Professions represent what you’ve done with your life. Someone who has spent a lot of time
studying, practicing and performing music has a different outlook on life than someone who
spent a lot of time studying, practicing and performing acts of grotesque violence. Training and
experience give you different strengths, in the form of professional links. A professional link is
a connection between two Qualities that don’t lie on the same continuum. With a professional
link, you can slide a point between those Qualities when you use the free slide at the end of the
scene. You can’t use it when damage is being applied to one of the Qualities, however.
Note that belonging to a profession does not make you competent in that profession.
Typically, that’s a matter for your Qualities and Identities.
Academic
Someone who has made a life of the mind his primary objective qualifies as an Academic. He
typically has social connections and can apply surprising resources – often not his own but those
he’s patiently convinced the police chief or college president or hospital director to apply. The
academic could also be a nurse, a teacher, an inventor or a philanthropist.
Professional Link: Generosity and Demonstration
Detective
Private investigators, police detectives, snooping reporters and spies of all types thrive on the
accumulation of information. A curious combination of skepticism and open-mindedness lets
them absorb information without instantly jumping to conclusions – they rarely trust anything,
even their own first impressions.
Professional Link: Selfishness and Observation
58 • CHARACTER GENERATION
Defender
This profession could indicate a bodyguard, bouncer or anyone
else who provides protection. Most commonly, it’s a cop. The
job of the police is to preserve order, which often means dealing
with people at their worst – sometimes when outnumbered
and armed with nothing but six bullets and the authority of
a badge. Security guards don’t even get the badge. Sometimes,
that’s enough. Sometimes, they have to take a little punishment
and bull their way through. Example Specialties
Professional Link: Courage and Endurance Air Pilot
Thug Architect
Some people like to hurt others. They are often disliked, which
Astrologer
means they have to develop some instincts to help them ooze
out of the trouble that so often dogs their kick-itching heels. Atomic Engineer
This is also the profession for boxers, enforcers, torpedoes, hit
Couture Clothing Designer
men and a variety of vicious petty crooks.
Professional Link: Wrath to Defiance Lawyer
Ingénue Linguistic Specialist

The ingénue doesn’t have to be female, though in film noir the Optometrist
honest and pure people typically are. This profession represents
anyone who believes in truth and virtue, and strives to follow Ship’s Captain
a higher justice. It could easily be a crusading journalist, a
Surgeon
minister, a political organizer or a surprisingly clean union
steward. It works just as well for lawyers of several stripes
(District Attorney, public defender, lawyer for the oppressed).
Professional Link: Purity to Honesty
Femme Fatale
The dark counterpart to the ingénue is the femme fatale who,
again, doesn’t have to be female but often is. This is someone
who excels at manipulating the emotions of others so that she
can prey on their weaknesses – sometimes for gain, sometimes
just ‘cause it’s what she does best. This is also a good profession
for con artists and criminal masterminds.
Professional Link: Corruption to Deceit
CHARACTER GENERATION • 59
Appendix:
One Roll Legal Problems
Often, a GM comes up with a great
mystery, subtle clues and devastating
plot twists all on her own. That’s
great, that’s as it should be. But
sometimes a GM needs (or wants)
a little help. Nothing wrong with
that, either. To lend that help, here’s
a random plot generator.
It works like this. Roll 11d10 (or fewer if you want something
less complicated). Sort out the sets and note down the dice outside
pairs. The sets indicate the central legal elements of the problem
- the crux of the matter that’s involving a P.I., lawyer, cop or
interested bystander. The loose dice represent twists, complications
and revelations.
With one roll, the GM gets a pile of elements, but it’s like
a tangled skein of yarn. The GM still has to sort, interpret and
arrange the events, thereby knitting them into a warm sweater of
betrayal, greed and fear.
If you get a wide set, don’t worry about anything that comes
earlier in the progression: If you get a 4x2, (blackmail) it doesn’t
mean that the 3x2 and 2x2 results (stalking and amorous badgering)
come into play. They sure can if you want, but they don’t have to.
(The 5x5 Divorce is an exception to this, obviously.)
It can be a good idea to consider the Width of the sets as a
rough gauge of their seriousness. Events on the chart don’t just
get more serious as the Width rises: Every die in a set is also a
die that’s not randomly complicating matters, so devote the energy
and time you’d have spent on those complications to the central
issue instead.
It can also be a good idea to set some dice to results you want
and to just toss the rest to inspire elaboration. If you know you
want a Black Dahlia-style killer freakshow, set five dice to 10 and
roll the other six to see what other plot clowns are wandering
around the noir circus.
APPENDIX: ONE ROLL LEGAL PROBLEMS • 61

Central Disputes
x1 THEFT 3x4 Negligence led to some widespread,
low-grade problem – mild illness,
2x1 Petty, minor stuff.
a horrible odor from the sewer, car
3x1 An item of great sentimental value. breakdowns, et cetera. Nothing life
threatening.
4x1 An elaborate, intrusive theft of
something very expensive. 4x4 Permanent injury.
5x1 Bank robbery. 5x4 Someone died due to another’s failure

and irresponsibility
x2 HARASSMENT
x5 DIVORCE
2x2 Amorous badgering, the kind of thing
that would be funny in a romantic 2x5 Property is in doubt.
comedy but is kind of creepy elsewhere.
3x5 There are custody issues.
3x2 Stalking. That is, anonymous watching
4x5 One or both sides are making vicious
and following.
accusations - drunkenness, abuse and
4x2 Blackmail. the like.
5x2 Twisted, serious death threats. Possibly 5x5 Wealth, fame, and all of the other x5
with props. results.
x3 PROPERTY CRIME x6 CONTRACT DISPUTE
2x3 Petty vandalism. 2x6 Forgery accusations.
3x3 Destruction of something valuable. 3x6 A suspicious Last Will and Testament.
4x3 Something is massively fouled, 4x6 Vague wording in an important

defaced or polluted, such as a boat, document.
building or piece of real estate.
5x6 An international, multi-million dollar
Or, if you like, a riot.
deal hangs in the balance.
5x3 Multiple arson.
x7 GOVERNMENT REGULATION
x4 NEGLIGENCE
2x7 Police Misconduct
2x4 Someone was humiliated or a
3x7 Kickbacks
reputation was ruined due to
carelessness. 4x7 Bribery
5x7 Patronage accusations
62 • APPENDIX: ONE ROLL LEGAL PROBLEMS

x8 FRAUD
Twists, Reveals and
2x8 The short con – a one time deceit meant Complications
to take whatever the mark happens to 1 Evidence of official misconduct, be it
be carrying. police, morgue attendant or forest ranger
2 A frame job, or evidence tampering
3x8 Imposture
3 Insanity
4x8 Embezzlement 4 Addiction
5 Reluctant key witness
5x8 A long, elaborate con job meant to take 6 Seemingly damning physical evidence
multiple people for all they’ve got. 7 An unusually young, naïve or
x9 PERSONAL ATTACK inexperienced suspect
8 Passionate, powerful courtroom
2x9 Someone got in a punch-up. testimony
9 A marital infidelity angle
3x9 Assault with a deadly weapon - a gun
10 It activates, involves or touches on a
was brandished or a knife came into
player character’s secret.
play.
4x9 Assault with intent to kill - the gun went

off or serious harm was done.
5x9 Mayhem, in the strict legal construction

of “depriving another person of a body
part.”
x10 MURDER
2x10 Manslaughter
3x10 A crime of passion
4x10 An icy, premeditated killing
5x10 Perverse, maniacal behavior. Not just

killing, but body mutilation, cannibalism,
necrophilia and the like.

For Example…
The Case of Kid Klepto
I roll 1,1,2,3,4,5,7,2x8,9,10. That means the actual crimes are petty theft and
the short con. Why would a self-respecting noir character give this anything
other than a cigarette-scented snort of disinterest? Well, there’s always the
incident 10 wild card. Nothing like a threat to a secret to spur interest. But let’s
look at that big pile of external elements.
3 and 7 give us a naïve, possibly insane suspect. Let’s stretch ‘insane’ to
cover mental retardation. (In the noir era, that’s probably where it got filed.)
This gives us a kid who’s a kleptomaniac, not really functionally intelligent.
Why isn’t he in the slammer or an asylum already? Give the kid some rich
parents. Rich enough to hire a P.I. for instance.
5 and 9, reluctant witness and infidelity? Cheating makes you shun
publicity. So the only one who can clear the kid is a mistress witness. Possibly
the theft victim’s? Yeah.
2 and 4, evidence tampering and addiction, seem to combine nicely with
that 2x8. Addiction can sure provoke deceit and desperation. Okay. I’ve got it.
Ben Sticks works for the wealthy Diamanté family in some capacity - cook,
personal secretary, tutor, butler… anything that puts him at the house most
days. He’s got a problem with the ponies (4) and needs some money fast. But
he’s not about to rob the Diamantés… not when Ian’s around.
Ian Diamanté is the family disappointment (7). Mentally, he’s about five
years old, and not a bright five either. He likes shiny things (3) and is not
at all clear on abstractions like ‘property rights’ or ‘privacy.’ He’s wandered
into neighbors’ homes before and helped himself to food, scraps of tinfoil,
children’s toys and other oddments (2x1). Some neighbors tolerate this (he
really is a sweet kid), some have servants to deal with it, but there are still times,
about once a year, when the Diamantés have to say sorry and give people an
opportunity to graciously forgive. It helps that their apologies usually take the
form of cash.
Ben watched and waited for another one of Ian’s ‘uh ohs’ and when it
happened at the Claytons’ house, he snuck in right afterwards and helped
himself to some bearer bonds. No dummy, he hid one in Ian’s room to frame
the boy (2, 2x8). The only fly in the ointment is that he was seen sneaking out
the back door, by someone who was also sneaking out the back door. Annabelle
Murphy is the Mr. Clayton’s side project (9) and she knows it won’t do her any
good to get between Mr. and Mrs. Clayton (5). Can the PCs clear Ian’s name
and uncover Ben’s perfidy?

The Case of Atheist Grace
Rolling 1,2,3,3,4,5,6,8,10,10,10 I’ve got petty vandalism and murder! What
a combo! If you’d killed someone, would you stick around to decorate
afterwards? Or if you were just kicking in some windows, would you kill a
witness? Hm.
The side elements, once again, seem to be where it’s at. 6, seemingly
ironclad evidence, plays nicely with 2 (tampered evidence) and both of
them work well with 1 (official misconduct). So this isn’t just a frame, it’s a
frame made to exacting professional standards.4, 5 and 8 give us addiction,
a reluctant witness and powerful testimony. Is the powerful testimony the
truth from the reluctant witness? Or is it that only the reluctant witness can
counter the testimony?
Let’s assemble this crazy thing.
Maynard Grace is a strident Communist atheist, prone to standing in
front of the cathedral denouncing how it was built on the sweat of the deluded
proletariat. Some cops (who just happen to be Catholic) aren’t crazy about
this behavior and periodically roust him, none too gently. Not long after
Maynard got a warning, someone dropped by the cathedral in the middle of
the night and threw bricks through several stained-glass windows (2x3).
The catholic cops were sure Maynard did it but couldn’t get it to stick. So
they decided it was compellingly in the public interest to frame him (2) for
heroin possession (4). They grabbed him, made statements that they’d seen
him in the alley behind the convent acting suspicious, planted some Mexican
brown on him and hauled him off to the slammer (6).
Only here’s the thing: While they were busy protecting the public from
Maynard Grace, someone sexually assaulted a nun, either before or after
strangling her (3x10). Maybe during, the coroner isn’t sure. This monster’s
only plausible escape route? Why, right through the alley where four cops
have falsely testified that they were arresting Maynard.
As you can imagine, the altar-boy cops are in a bind. Their options are to
stick to their story and let the real killer get away clean, or admit a criminal
conspiracy to frame an innocent man (1).
The witness who could damn or exonerate (8) Grace is a 70-year-old nun
who took a vow of silence (5) when she entered the convent as a teenager. She
claims to remember nothing of that night, nothing at all, and did we mention
that her health isn’t the strongest?
Atheist Grace needs a miracle if he’s going to avoid the chair. Or at least a
friend. What he gets is the PCs.

The Case of the Near Judgment
Where the last two examples had plenty of tangential elements, this one’s got a heap of sets. With
a 1,2,3,3,4,4,5,6,6,10,10 we’re looking at vandalism again (2x3), negligence ruining a reputation
(2x4), accusations of forgery (2x6) and manslaughter (2x10). The twists? Official misconduct (1)
shows up again, as do insanity (2) and the reliably reluctant witness (5).
Let’s start with insanity and petty vandalism, which sound good side by side. John Markham
is a religious fanatic, complete with glazed eyes, long beard, horrendous body odor and an
unbreakable tendency to scrawl, “JUDGMENT IS NEAR” on any available surface. He’s homeless
and incoherent and frightening, but resourceful at acquiring paint.
Mad John Markham has a few friends. Elena Syzkowski saw how kind he is to birds and
strays, and feeds him even as she’s seen him feed them. A street preacher named Jordan Watts
keeps trying to get Markham off skid row, but it’s slow going. A few other bums seem to look out
for him too - almost as if they regard him as good luck or a kind of pet.
Seemingly a world away from those gritty streets are two tidy bureaucrats, mild-mannered
Miles Dove and foul-tempered Shelby Crowe. They never liked one another, as anyone in the
zoning department could tell you. Their petty politicking was the stuff of legend, but when one
of them rezoned a hill for industrial construction without a proper geological survey… it sounds
like a little thing, a minor mistake, who could care? Only the diggers displaced a cliff under an
historic cemetery. The result was not only a disastrous landslide into the construction site, it was
a landslide with some highly-regarded corpses bouncing around on top.
Dove blamed Crowe. Crowe blamed Dove. The documents fingered Dove, conclusively, and
he was fired in disgrace. Only Dove has always insisted the documents were forged, so when
Crowe winds up dead, he’s the prime suspect.
Who really killed Crowe? Mad John Markham, but he was provoked. Crowe came upon
Markham, painting up a building before it even had its fourth wall. Crowe started yelling. When
Markham ignored him, Crowe hit him in the back with a fist-sized chunk of concrete. Markham
responded in kind, Crowe charged and Markham ran into the construction site.
Showing the same kind of poor judgment that resulted in the landslide (yeah, it really was his
fault), Crowe cornered Markham by the bulldozers, then promptly skidded on a patch of mud
and fell. Markham pressed the advantage and beat Crowe’s brains in with a lead pipe.
In the meantime, John’s friend Elena witnessed the start of the whole thing - the painting
and rock throwing, all the way up to the flight and pursuit. She quietly came down and washed
the paint off the wall, because she didn’t want John to get in trouble again. She figured that mean
man (whoever he was) would chase John off, get tired, and go home. She had no idea things
would escalate so far.
Dove has no alibi - he claims he was home, by himself, fixing a leaky basement fixture. Elena
doesn’t want to believe John could have killed that man, and she’s also scared of what will happen
to her if it looks like she was covering up the murder. If the PCs can’t uncover the truth, Miles
Dove is doomed.

Dirty World Cheat Sheet
Identities Qualities
Patience (Mental): Focus on a problem and grind Generosity (Mental): Financial resources and
away at it. If it hits zero you go berserk and social status.
can’t use Patience, Cunning or Understanding Selfishness (Mental): Taking things from other
until some Patience is restored. people to their cost and your benefit.
Cunning (Mental): Reacting to the unexpected Demonstration (Mental): Education, knowledge
and thinking nontraditionally. and experience. Explaining things to people.
Vigor (Physical): Good health, strength and raw Observation (Mental): Learning, noticing or
vitality. If it hits zero your character is dying. observing things.
Grace (Physical): Balance, body control and Courage (Physical): Cope with danger. Fight fair
delicacy. or against the odds.
Understanding (Spiritual): The ability to relate Wrath (Physical): Bully and physically torment.
to people and empathize with them on a
profound and personal level. If it hits zero, Endurance (Physical): Use your body to make
your character despairs and is unable to use something keep happening.
Vigor or Patience for rolls. Defiance (Physical): Use your body to keep
Persuasion (Spiritual): Getting people to see something from happening.
things your way. Purity (Spiritual): Contact the good side of other
people, inspiring them to better action.
Instant Quality Improvements Corruption (Spiritual): Perceive others’ sins and
Generosity: Help the unwilling. weaknesses, and lure them towards them.
Selfishness: Steal from the trusting. Honesty (Spiritual): Deal with the truth.
Demonstration: Understand something new. Deceit (Spiritual): Deal with Deception.
Observation: Get taken by surprise.
Quality Damage
Courage: Win an even or disadvantageous fight.
2x or 3x Set: Slide a point off the Quality. If it’s
Wrath: Torment the helpless. empty, slide off the Identity associated with
Endurance: Survive a physical confrontation. it.
Defiance: Be scorned. 4x Set: Remove a point from the Quality. If it’s

empty, remove a point from its Identity.
Purity: Right a wrong at cost, without duress.
5+x Set: Remove a point directly from the Identity
Corruption: Torment on purpose, for no gain.
attached to the Quality.
Honesty: Suffer from being deceived.
Weapons, Secrets & Surprises
Deceit: Have your faith betrayed.
Minor: +1 Width. Switchblade, embarrassment,
circumstantial evidence.
Serious: +2 Width. Handgun, humiliation,
objective evidence.
Horrendous: +3 Width. Machinegun, total social
upheaval, damning and incontrovertible
evidence.
67
He was sitting in the booth at the diner. A peculiar,
American place, in my eyes. So much chrome.
“Thank you for meeting me,” he said. We sat in silence for a little while. I waited
“It was the least I could do,” I replied. for the waitress, who did not come.“You look
“The least you could do is nothing.” He good,” he said. I thanked him, and asked him
turned to the window, the corners of his mouth how his job was going.
deepening down. “A lot of people do that.” “Oh, that.” He glanced down, played
“I know.” with his ring. “It’s, um, it’s not easy, making
“Yeah.” He looked back at me. It made the change back. Like people have
me uncomfortable, those doe-brown eyes. forgotten, you know? Forgotten how to act.
“I guess I don’t have to tell you that.” What normal is.”
68
I reached across and put my hand on his. Even the war could not make those mountains
I had to. “The changes aren’t easy for anyone.” ugly. The… the sadness, and the fear, it only
“Guess not.” His fingers slowly encircled made it more precious, seeing the sky perfect
mine. “People just want something to hold on blue and a river, or a pink sunset cloud. Do
to, I guess.” His head tilted up, gradually, to see you see?”
my face. “Something they can know for sure.” He shook his head, eyebrows drawn
Those eyes, by nature so warm and trusting. together. I do not think he was well educated.
How many men had they watched die? How “I saw beauty there, but the destination
many of those men had he killed? was hell. What you want, with me, would have
“I know you,” he said, leaning forward. it’s priceless times, but the end… that I could
“No, I’m not sure you do.” I tried to retrieve not do to you.”
my hand, but not very hard. He tightened “You think being… with me… would be
around it, not unpleasantly. I could feel dread like that?”
poisoning my gratitude. “No, do not misunderstand, please! I owe
“I don’t know about your childhood or you a debt I can never repay, ever. What you,
your family or, or your favorite song I guess, all of you, did for us… it is not only goodness,
but I know you. At least, I know where I stand but greatness. I understand, and the people
with you.” you work with do not, yes? To them, it is far
“You saved my life.” away, a… a dream.”
“I know.” He squeezed, then let go. “That’s “A war story,” he muttered.
about all I know.” “You want to know you are a good man
At last, the waitress arrived. We asked for who did a great thing,” I said, and I wanted to
coffee, and he tried to order an omelette for touch him again, but I didn’t. “Good men, they
me. When she had gone, he asked my favorite do not cheat on their wives.”
song, and I laughed. It was a sad sound, not a He left me then, and I drank my coffee
joyful one. and wished I could cry. When the waitress
“What is it, that you want from me?” returned, I said I didn’t want anything else.
I asked. He had not paid. As I reached into my purse,
He turned those eyes on me again, the button fell from my sleeve – I had been
beseeching. What a horror those eyes could tugging it again.“Funny birthmark,” she said.
turn into, I thought, with only a very little “Like a five.”
difference. He did not have to say that what “It is a tattoo,” I replied.
he needed, was to be needed.“I went… there, “A what?”
on a train,” I said. I realized I was picking at I didn’t explain. I don’t think she
my sleeve, the button by my wrist. I stopped. understood, or was interested. I turned my
“Looking out a hole in the wall, I saw wrist down and paid, before she could see the
mountains, and forests, and beautiful fields. other numbers in the string.
69
NAME Game
Player Profession
Current COMBAT POTENTIAL
status and resources generosity payoffs and bribes
forgery, graft, embezzlement selfishness steals cars, pick locks
Patience cunning
education and knowledge demonstration quick fixes, jury rigging
reconstruct a crime scene Observation spot an ambush
fair fight, fists courage fair fight, guns
beat on the inferior wrath Shoot the unarmed
vigor grace
marathon run, hold a pin endurancE car chase, balancing
smash obstacles defiance avoid or escape
see someone’s best side purity persuade through decency
comprehend devious motives corruption persuade with sin
understandING persuasion
find flaws in true statements honesty tell the truth convincingly
see through lies deceit tell lies

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This book is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Manning.

He was a good gamer, a better artist, and my close friend.

A DIRTY WORLD copyright 2008 Greg Stolze

How the Cha rac ter She et Wor ks 8

What to Rol l and How  13

The Thr ee Iden tity Pair s 18

The Six Qua lity Pair s 23

Swi ft Jus tice  32

Cha rac ter Gen eration  57

APP ENDIX : One Rol l Lega l Pro blem s  61

Dirt y Wor ld Che at She et 67

Identity is an essential element of who your

8 • HOW THE CHARACTER SHEET WORKS

HOW THE CHARACTER SHEET WORKS • 9

Qualities on the same line limit each other. COURAGE .

Always fill in circles and mark lines in

10 • HOW THE CHARACTER SHEET WORKS

DEMONSTRATION . is already at maximum (meaning he’s pretty

…is subjected to intellectual trickery DEMONSTRATION .

HOW THE CHARACTER SHEET WORKS • 11

WHAT TO ROLL AND HOW • 13

14 • WHAT TO ROLL AND HOW

WHAT TO ROLL AND HOW • 15

Taking Your Time

To Roll or Not Roll?

16 • WHAT TO ROLL AND HOW

WHAT TO ROLL AND HOW • 17

Patience and Cunning: The Mental Identities

18 • THE THREE IDENTITY PAIRS

THE THREE IDENTITY PAIRS • 19

Understanding and Persuasion: The Spiritual Identities

20 • THE THREE IDENTITY PAIRS

THE THREE IDENTITY PAIRS • 21

Generosity and Selfishness, Mental Qualities

Demonstration and Observation, Mental Qualities

THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS • 23

Courage and Wrath, Active Qualities

Endurance and Defiance, Active Qualities

24 • THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS

Honesty and Deceit, Spiritual Qualities

THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS • 25

Twenty Things To Do and How To Do Them.

Drive a Car: No Roll Required

Drive at Dangerous Speed in a Rainstorm:

Lose a Tail: Graceful Defiance

26 • THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS

Talk Down a Jumper: Persuasive Purity

Determine Whether the Necklace is Fake: Patient Observation

Threaten Someone to Get Them to Talk:

Disguise Yourself as a Cleaning Woman: Patient Selfishness

THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS • 27

Sneak Up Behind Somebody: Cunning Selfishness

28 • THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS

Construct a Shiv in Prison: Patient Selfishness

Play a Heartbreakingly Sad Song on the Piano:

Fake Your Own Death: Patient Selfishness

Booby Trap the Staircase:

THE SIX QUALITY PAIRS • 29

Cheat on Your Taxes: Patient Selfishness

Start Up a Muckraking Newspaper: Patient Generosity

Redecorate the Living Room For an Elegant Soirée:

Conceal Your Unease and Cynicism at an Unfamiliar Religious

Help Someone Else: Varies

How the Cha rac ter She et Wor ks 8

What to Rol l and How 13

The Thr ee Iden tity Pair s 18

The Six Qua lity Pair s 23

Swi ft Jus tice 32

Cha rac ter Gen eration 57

APP ENDIX : One Rol l Lega l Pro blem s 61

Dirt y Wor ld Che at She et 67